KARACHI, May 20: All the top squash players of the country will participate in the PSF President National Squash Championship to be held in Abbottabad during June 5-10.

The PSF President Cup is considered to be one of the leading events of the national squash calendar.

World No. 11 Mansoor Zaman, Pakistan’s highest-ranking players in the world, is likely to be top seeded in the tournament.

Apart from Mansoor, all the other leading players of the country including his cousin Shahid Zaman, Farrukh Zaman, Shamsul Islam Khan and Aijaz Azmat will also participate in the tournament that will carry lucrative prize money.

The PSF spokesman said that this year the size of the draw has been reduced from 32 to 16 players to enhance the quality of competition in the tournament.

The qualifying rounds of the event will be played on June 5 and 6 followed by the main rounds from June 7 to 10.

The top 12 players of the country will be given a direct entry in the competition on the basis of their national rankings while four main round berths will be at stake in the qualifying rounds.

The tournament will serve as a warm-up event for the country’s top players ahead of the initial trials for the 2003 World Team Championships. The trials will be held in Islamabad just days after the conclusion of the Abbottabad tournament.

A total of six players will be selected from the trials to take part in a training camp in preparation for the World Championships to be held in Vienna (Austria) from October 19 to 25.

Both Mansoor Zaman and Shahid Zaman will be exempted from the trials because of their high positions in the world rankings.—PPI