Pakistan circuit starts today

Published May 1, 2004

LAHORE, April 30: Only one foreign player from India has so far confirmed his participation in the main round of Pakistan International Squash Circuit-2004 tournament, which starts with prequalifying round from Saturday at the Punjab Squash Complex.

Ritwik Bhattacharya, who had featured in the World Open held here last year, is among a list of 12 players who had direct entry into the main round starting from May 5. Though a low cash prize of US $12,000 failed to attract many foreign players, the competition would however provide opportunity to Pakistani players to have their international rankings improved.

A total of 16 players will take part in the pre-qualifying round, starting from Saturday. In the qualifying round, Wai Hang Wong and Roger Ngan from Hong Kong and one Egyptian Amr Ramzy Swelim are taking part.

Pakistan top seed Mansoor Zaman is seeded No 1 of the competition while Khalid Atlas has been awarded wild card.

Players to take part in the competition:

Prequalifying round: Basit Ashfaq, Aaqib Hanif, Farzan Rashid, Shahnawaz, Haider Jamal, Ahmed (Punjab), Wakeel Khan, Naveed Nasir, Waseem Shad (NWFP), Usama Khan, Azam Khan (Sindh), Mohammad Hamayun Khan, Shahab Hussain (Balochistan), Adil Atlas, Majeed Hussain, Zahir Shah (PAF).

Qualifying round: Kashif Shuja, Shamsul Islam, Naveed Atlas Khan (Pakistan), Wai Hang Wong, Roger Ngan (Hong Kong), Zubair Ali Khan, Muhammad Ilyas, Amr Ramzy Swelim, Amir Atlas Khan, Mamoon Rashid, Muhammad Atiq, Ashfaq Hussain (Pakistan).

Main round: Mansoor Zaman, Shahid Zaman, Farrukh Zaman, Majid Khan, Arshad Iqbal Burki (Pakistan), Ritwik Bhattacharya (India), Safeerullah, Saeed Hassan, Farhan Mehboob, Yasir Butt, Khayal Muhammad, Khalid Atlas (Pakistan).