ISLAMABAD, Nov 15: The Pakistan Open World squash championship starts at the Mushaf Squash Complex from Thursday (today).

A pre-qualifying round will be played on Thursday and Friday followed by the qualifying round on Saturday and Sunday.

Eight players from the initial rounds advance to the main draw which already has 24 players, including four Pakistanis – Mansoor Zaman, Shahid Zaman, Aamir Atlas Khan and Arshad Iqbal Burki – selected directly.

The main round will run from Nov 20 to 25.

World No1 Amr Shabana of Egypt is the top-seed in the tournament while Frenchman Thierry Lincou, currently world No3, will defend his title.

Players in the main draw are:

Amr Shabana (Egypt), Thierry Lincou (France), Anthony Rickets (Australia), James Willstrop (England), Gregory Gaultier (France), Karim Darwish (Egypt), Stewart Bossel (Australia), Ramy Ashour (Egypt), Wael El Hindi (Egypt), Mohammad Azlan Iskandar (Malaysia), Mohammad Abbas (Egypt), Cameron Pilley (Australia), Mansoor Zaman (Pakistan), David Bianchetti (Italy), Shahid Zaman (Pakistan), Joey Barrington (England), Renan Levigne (France), Ritwik Bhattachariya (India), Alistaire Walker (England), Amr Mansi (Egypt), Dylan Bennet (Holland), Aamir Atlas Khan (Pakistan), Saurav Ghosal (India), Arshad Iqbal Burki (Pakistan).—APP