KARACHI: All is set for the 13th CNS International Squash Championship which gets into action at the PN Roshan Khan-Jahangir Khan Squash Complex on Thursday with eight first round matches on the cards.

The five-day US$18,000 PSA event will see 12 foreigners and as many Pakistanis vying for honours. The foreigners include seven new players who were not part of the DHA Cup and Pakistan Open.

Of the remaining five foreign contestants, three namely Navid Maleksabet, Sajad Zareian Jahromi, both from Iran, and Youssef Ibrahim from Egypt participated in the DHA Cup while top seed Arturo Salazar (Mexico) and fourth seed Ammar Altamimi (Kuwait) featured in Pakistan Open.

The organisers have awarded wild cards to Faraz Mohammad and Owais Rasheed.

According to the draws, top seed and world No. 45 Salazar is the highest ranked player in the competition. He had lost to second seed Diego Elias in the semi-final of Pakistan Open.

Fourth seed Altamimi, who is world No. 115, was crashed out in the first round of Pakistan Open.

Fifth seed and world No. 91 Rui Soares of Portugal is the third foreigner among the top eight while the remaining five seeds belonged to the host nation.

Thursday’s fixtures (matches start at noon): Faraz Mohammad (Pakistan) Vs Tang Ming Hong (Hong Kong), Youssef Ibrahim (Egypt) vs Owais Rasheed (Pakistan), Khawaja Adil Maqbool (Pakistan) vs Farhan Zaman (Pakistan), Syed Azlan Amjad (Qatar) vs Henry Leung (Hong Kong), Amaad Fareed (Pakistan) vs Ryan Pasqual (Malaysia), Tsz Kwan Lau (Hong Kong) vs Navid Maleksabet (Iran), Zahir Shah (Pakistan) vs Syed Ali Mujtaba Shah Bokhari (Pakistan), Chi Him Wong (Hong Kong) vs Sajad Zareian Jahromi (Iran).

Published in Dawn, December 6th, 2018