LAHORE, April 27: The two-day qualifying round of the Pak Telecom international squash championship will begin at the Punjab Squash Complex Courts on Monday.

Sixteen players, 13 from Pakistan and three foreigners will compete.

Top four qualifiers will join 12 players in the main round of 16 which begins from April 30.

In the main round, only four Pakistani players Mansoor Zaman, Shahid Zaman, Farrukh Zaman and wild card entry Saeed Hassan are included.

The remaining 12 are all foreigners in which Egypt has a major share of five. One player each from England, Australia and Malaysia is also competing.

The World No 9 and also the defending champion Karim Darwish (Egypt) is the top seed of the championship.

Among 13 Pakistan players contesting in the qualifying round are Shamsul Islam Khan, Ajaz Azmat, Arshad Iqbal Burki, Muhammad Ilyas, Zubair Ali Khan, Majid Khan, Khayal Muhammad, Khalid Atlas Khan, Safeerullah Khan, Farhan Mehboob, Naveed Atlas, Shahnawaz and Yasar Butt. Glenn Keenan (Australia), Hisham Mohammad Ashour (Egypt) and Ben Howell (England) are three foreigners who will compete in the qualifying round.

The draws will be taken out on Monday at 11am.