Roshan Khan Squash Open postponed

KARACHI: The $20,000 Parco Roshan Khan International Squash Open has been postponed because of lack of sponsorship.

The tournament sanctioned by Professional Squash Association (PSA) for men was to be held in Karachi from August 4-8. However, the main sponsor of the event, PARCO, backed out and it has been postponed for a few months. This was confirmed to ‘The News’ by PSA’s tour assistant Ju Dutton.

“The Roshan Khan Championship has been postponed due to sponsorship issues. Negotiations are underway with a new set of sponsors and we are optimistic of being able to put on a top-class tournament in the near future,” said Ju in communication with this scribe.

One of the organisers here said that they were trying to persuade the sponsor to hold this event in the coming months. “PARCO is to take the approval of this sponsorship from its board,” he said. “We would hold this event soon, preferably in December,” said Rashid Ahmed.

The event has been organised since 2008, with active support of Pakistan Navy. In July last year, Parco Roshan Khan Championship had been confined to national level due to PSA restrictions.

Meanwhile, some high-prized events are to be held in Karachi in the near future. The $20,000 DHA Cup is scheduled from October 15-20 and the $18,000 CNS International from December 6-10.

PSA has conditionally allowed events with foreign participation for Karachi. It had been allowing tournaments only for Islamabad for security reasons. PSA in its Players Update in June stated that tournaments in Pakistan “have been extensively discussed among the PSA Board, as the Pakistan Squash Federation (PSF) wants to host many events every year.

“However, for security reasons, PSA is allowing tournaments to be held only if approved by the Sports Risk (the security firm that the PSA is working with). This requires Sports Risk to travel and assess each venue before a tournament,” stated PSA.