KARACHI: The Pakistan Open Squash Championships, for men and women, with $73,000 prize money, begins at the Asif Nawaz Squash Complex, DA Creek Club here on Wednesday (today). Former world No 1 Karim Abdel Gawad of Egypt, who is presently ranked 9th, and world No 12 Diego Elias of Peru are the main attraction of the championships. Foreign players and officials have arrived to compete in the country’s premier event which is taking place in the metropolis after 2005. The details of the competition were unveiled by legendary squash player Jahangir Khan at a press conference. The 10-time former British Open champion, who holds a world record for staying unbeaten in a mind-boggling 555 consecutive matches spread over five and-a-half years, was flanked by sponsors and his dedicated team of officials. Jahangir, who heads the organising committee, expressed his gratitude to the Professional Squash Association (PSA) and the Pakistan Squash Federation (PSF) for bestowing honours on the Sindh Squash Association (SSA) for staging the mega event in the city. Outlining the salient features, he said as per PSA rules, 22 players had direct entries in both the categories while the hosts had given two wildcards apiece to local men and women. Ahsan Ayaz and Noman Khan were given wildcards in the men’s category while Amna Fayyaz and Noor-ul-Huda got wildcards in the women’s category. Tayyab Aslam, who lost the preceding DHA Cup final to Malaysian Ivan Yuen, and Asim Khan are the two other seeded Pakistanis in the main draw. Madina Zafar, Sadia Gul, Riffat Khan, Anam Mustafa Aziz and Zahab Kamal Khan have been directly placed in the women’s main round. The men`s event carries a handsome prize money of $53,000 while $20,000 have been set aside for women’s competition which has been launched for the first time. The squash maestro went on to say that three back-to-back international squash events in the city had not only lifted the image of Pakistan as a peace loving nation but at the same time provided an opportunity to country’s players to deliver and enhance their world rankings. Jahangir added such events served as a platform to bring people closer and expressed optimism that the ongoing spectacle would pave way for staging international meets in other sports. “Hosting of the events will also motivate the youth who were deprived of watching top players in action for the last 10 to 15 years due to security concerns,” he maintained. He said that Karachi was the hub of squash activities in the 70s, 80s and 90s due to international facilities but now Lahore and Islamabad had also come up and hosting the events. Published in Daily Times, November 28th 2018.