Asian Junior Individual Championship draws announced

KARACHI: Asian Squash Federation (ASF) has released the draws of 24th Asian Junior Individual Championship on Tuesday.

Pakistan’s hopes are Abbas Zeb and Mansoor Zaman in the under-19 category. Both are seeded 5/8 and their strong opponents are top seed Mohammad Al-Sarraj of Jordan and second seed Abhay Singh of India, respectively.

Abdul Malik is 9/16 seed and is drawn against Mohammed Al-Majidi of Iraq in the first round, while Zeeshan Zeb is also 9/16 seed and is drawn against Abedalkader Jeitan of Jordan.Mansoor Zaman is 5/8 seed and has got bye in the first round.

In the under-17 category, Shahzad Ali is to face 5/8 seeded Veer Chotrani of India, while 9/16 seeded Uzair Shaukat is up against Nicolas Elias Nassar of Lebanon in the first round.

In the under-15 category, Asadullah is seeded ¾ and has got bye in the first round, while Ashab Irfan will play against N Karunaratne of Sri Lanka in the first round.In the under-13 category, 5/8 seed Hamza Khan, ¾ seed Huzaifa Ibrahim, ¾ seed Usman Nadeed have got byes in the first round.

It is to be noted that last year (23rd edition of the championship) Abbas Zeb won boys under-17 title and Asadullah clinched the under-13 title. Pakistan did not participate in under-19 category.Pakistan’s Israr Ahmed won the 22nd Asian Junior Individual Championship in 2015 by defeating Ng Eain Yow of Malaysia 7-11, 11-7, 13-11, 8-11, 11-6 in 66 minutes in the final of under-19 category.