LONDON Pakistan face a formidable challenge in the month's World Junior Squash Championships in the southern Indian port city of Chennai where 28 nations will be competing for the ultimate titles in men's and women's categories.
According to the draws announced by the World Squash Federation on Friday, India's Dipika Pallikal and Egyptian Mohamed El Shorbagy have been named as top seeds for the global event to be played from July 29 to Aug 2.
Pakistan will be represented by Farhan Zaman, Nosherwan Khan, Aurangzeb Mehmud and Nasir Iqbal in the men's event and Zoya Khalid and Maria Toray in the ladies category..
While Maria has been given a bye in the first round, Zoya will play Katherine Quarterman of England in her opening match.
However, none of the Pakistani boys have earned any first round byes. Nasir Iqbal meets Zeke Scherl of USA, eighth seed Farhan Zaman plays Laurens Mostmans of Belgium, Nosherwan will face Aqeel Ashkanani of Kuwait and Aurangzeb takes on Sheen Ramdenee of Mauritius.
Dipika Pallikal is seeded to become India's first ever world squash champion after being top seeded.
Already ranked inside the women's world's top 50, 17-year-old Pallikal has established a significant junior career, winning the British Junior U-17 Open title in 2008 and reaching the final in both the British Junior U-19 Open and Asian Junior Championship earlier this year.
Pallikal is expected to meet Egypt's No2 seed Heba El Torky in the women's final.
Winner of British Junior Open titles at U-13, U-15 and U-17 the 18-year-old from Alexandria has also already notched up two WISPA World Tour titles, at last year's China Open and Pakistan Open.
Heba's younger sister Nouran El Torky is also among the event's top seeds.
The 16-year-old, seeded five, is one of six Egyptians named in the top 16 seeds including the youngest, 13-year-old Nour El Sherbini, also from Alexandria.
Title-holder Mohamed El Shorbagy has the chance to become only the second player in history to win the men's crown twice.
The 18-year-old favourite from Alexandria has already enjoyed a meteoric run in the sport and boasts a senior world top 20 ranking following notable success on the PSA World Tour which has included final berths in the recent Spanish Open and Irish Open and a quarter-final finish in last year's World Open in his maiden appearance in the sport's premier championship.
El Shorbagy's predicted final opponent is Malaysian Ivan Yuen. Winner of the recent Asian Junior Championship title, also in Chennai, the second seed from Selangor made his debut in the world's top 100 in May.
