PESHAWAR Former World No. 52 and Pakistan No. 3 Arshad Iqbal Burki left for US to compete in the Atlanta Squash Open commencing from May 20-23, 2010.

Talking to APP at Peshawar International Airport before leaving for the US, Arshad said that he had been seeded eight in the main draw of the Atlanta Open and will play his first match against top seed Chris Ryder of England on May 20, 2010.

“It will be a big challenge playing Chris right away but leaving two weeks earlier to have training sessions will help me acclimatize and get a feel of things,” he added.

Arshad disclosed that he went through rigorous training under his coach Kumail Mehmood for the event in Peshawar and Karachi.

The newly-wed Arshad said that due to his personal commitments he could not take part in some of the ranking tournaments in the US and Malaysian circuits which had pushed him down the ladder on the international stage.

“By not participating in the ranking events I went out of the 100 club but now my aim would be to regain a position in the top 50 by the end of this year,” Arshad, a regular on the US circuit for the past few years, said.

After playing in the Atlanta Open, the Peshawar born player will return to Pakistan before leaving again in October this year to several ranking tournaments, again in the US. He will also be competing in event in Malaysia and India and sounded confident that playing against the top players of the world would help him polish his game a great deal.

The names of the other seeded players in the tournament are Laurence Felasauz (England), Bernardo Samper (COL), Jethro Binns (Wal), Joel Hinds (Eng), Jorge ISAAC Baltazar Ferreira (MEXICO), Chris Truswell (England), Piedro Schwartzman (Netherlands) and Scott Fitzgeral (WAL).