KARACHI: As many as 20 junior squash players of the country have entered their names to play the British Junior Open that is to be held in Birmingham, England from January 2-6.
According to the entry list, M Jasim Afridi is 9/16 seed while M Rayyan Zaman is unseeded in the under-11 category. In the under-13 category, M Saim, M Mustafa Khan, and Ibrahim Ahmad have secured places in the main draw.
In the under-15 category, M Sohail Adnan is 3/4 seed, M Harmas Ali Raja is 17/32 seed, Mahnoor Ali 9/16 seed, Sehrish Ali 17/32 seed, and Zara A. Zaidi is 17/32 seed while M Bin Atif is unseeded.
In the under-17 category, Abdullah Zaman, Abdul Aahad Butt, M Umar Farooq Butt, Yahya Khan, and Huzaifa Shahid all are unseeded. In the under-19 category, M Umair Arif, Azan Ali Khan, Abdullah Arsalan, and Abdullah Nadeem all are unseeded.
It is to be noted that all Pakistani players will play in the same categories in the BJO as they have been playing in the categories in domestic or national events. This condition has been devised by World Squash Federation, U.S Squash, England Squash, and European Squash for all Pakistani players participating in international events in order to deal with the overage issue.
Last week, the U.S Squash has put a number of Pakistani players in the higher age categories in the U.S Junior Open that is scheduled from December 20th. Under this policy, Harmas Ali Raja will feature in under-15 category instead of under-15, Azan Ali Khan and M Umair Arif will feature in under-19 category instead of under-17, and Mahnoor Ali is to play in the under-15 category instead of under-13.
It is to pertinent to mention here that Pakistan’s 24 players have entered to play the U.S. Junior Open Squash Championships while 44 players are featuring in the Scottish Junior Open in the last week of this month.
