ISLAMABAD, Oct 1: Pakistan’s Shahid Zaman has been seeded on top for this month’s $25,000 CAS International Squash Tournament that will also feature former world champion Jansher Khan.
Shahid, world ranked 34 has been drawn to meet Davide Bianchetti of Italy in the tournament to be played in Peshawar from Oct 17.
Jansher, will be continuing his international comeback after making the quarterfinals of last week’s $25,000 CNS International Championship in Karachi.
Competing as a wildcard entrant, Jansher will be playing Australian Den Jenson in the first round that will also see second seed Mansoor Zaman taking on a qualifier.
The main draw also has Englishmen Nick Matthew, Adrian Grant, Bradley Ball and Tim Garner, Australian Mike Corren, Egypt’s Mohamed Essam A Hafiz and Malaysia’s Mohd Azlan Iskandar.
Prominent home players in the qualifying round are Ajaz Azmat, Amjad Khan, Farrukh Zaman, Shamsul Islam Khan and Muhammad Ilyas besides Australians Glenn Keenan, Cameron White, Engalnd’s Jonathan Kemp, Jago Nardelli and Andrew Whipp and Egyptian Hisham Mohd Ashour.
Another four Pakistanis will be added to the list of players in the qualifying round.
Meanwhile, the Pakistan Squash Federation (PSF) is set to launch its Masters’ League Wednesday which is to be contested between under-19 and under-17 players at the Pakistan Sports Complex.
Offering a prize purse of Rs 50,000, to be distributed among the top five finishers, the League has Farhan Mahboob and Yasir Butt in the under-17 category. Those in the under-19 bracket are Khayal Muhammad, Safeerullah Khan, Majid Khan, Naseem Tahkali, Imran Mohib, Saeed Hassan, Shah Nawaz, Waseem Shad, Khalid Atlas and Arshad Iqbal Burki.