KARACHI: The $30,000 Chief of the Air Staff-Serena Hotels International Squash Championship has been postponed for the third time until 2021.
The event was first scheduled in April but got postponed because of the corona pandemic but in June PSA allotted new dates for the event, September 14-18, in Islamabad.
Later, it was allowed by Professional Squash Association (PSA) to be held in November. But now it has once again been postponed.
“It was due to the new rules issued by PSA in the light of Covid-19 that forced the promoter (Pakistan Squash Federation) to postpone it,” said a source.
The source added that under the new rules the players, especially foreigners, will have to be allotted single rooms in the hotel which put a heavy financial burden on the promoter.
It is to be noted that PSF under special information on the official tournament page of PSA site clearly stated: “Limited number of rooms with separate single beds are available in hotel. Therefore, rooms to player will be provided on first come first serve basis.
“No personal requests for room adjustment from the players will be entertained as it created a lot of problems for the sponsors during last PSA event.”
It is worth adding here that as many as 17 foreign players had sent entries to play it in April. But after that foreign players did not show any intention to enter their names in the championship although the event was to be played under the recommendations of World Squash Federation.
Before the earlier postponement in September, only two players from England and Italy, both Pakistan-origin, entered to play this event.
“The PSF took a hasty decision to get this event postponed due to financial issues as it would create problems for the sanction of events to Pakistan in future,” said a local coach.
It is pertinent to mention here that Pakistan has hosted only one international event this year and that was CNS International in February in Karachi.
