BISL International Squash Championship: Tournament Preview

The PSA Challenger Tour continues in Pakistan this week, with the BISL International Squash Championship holding both a men’s and women’s event at the Quetta Club.

Like last week’s tournament in Liechtenstein, this week’s event is also restricted for entrants. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the tournament is only allowing domestic entries, meaning that the majority of the draws are Pakistani players. In fact, just one of the 32 players in the two draws does not represent the nation.

That sole player is Italy’s Muhammad Bilal, who was actually born in Pakistan, and resides there right now, meaning he is allowed to play in the tournament.

The men’s draw is headed up by World No.44 Tayyab Aslam, who has reached the final in his last three tournaments on home soil, winning two of those. He lifted the title at both the Serena Huawei Pakistan International Squash Tournament and the 13th DG Rangers Sindh Squash Championship, winning in back-to-back weeks in December 2019.

Asim Khan, Amaad Fareed and Farhan Zaman are the other men seeded in the top four in the men’s draw, with Danish Atlas Khan, the player Aslam defeated in the DG Rangers final, the No.5 seed for the event.

Amna Fayyaz, the World No.95, is the top seed in the women’s draw for the BISL International Squash Championship, and she will face competition from Faiza Zafar Madina Zafar and Moqaddas Ashraf. The 18-year-old has a win on home soil already in her career, where she defeated Ashraf in the final.

The tournament starts on Tuesday, November 24, and will run through to Saturday, November 28, when the winners of the BISL International Squash Championship will be crowned.

Men’s Draw: BISL International Squash Championship
[1] Tayyab Aslam (PAK) v Muhammad Farhan (PAK)
Nasir Iqbal (PAK) v [6] Israr Ahmed (PAK)
[7] Zahir Shah (PAK) v [WC] Waqar Khan (PAK)
Saeed Abdul (PAK) v [3] Ammad Fareed (PAK)
[4] Farhan Zaman (PAK) v Syed Ali Mujtaba Shah Bokhari (PAK)
Naveed Rehman (PAK) v [5] Danish Atlas Khan (PAK)
[8] Waqas Mehboob (PAK) v Muhammad Bilal (ITA)
Nour Zaman (PAK) v [2] Asim Khan (PAK)

Women’s Draw: BISL International Squash Championship
[1] Amna Fayyaz (PAK) v Zaynab Khan (PAK)
Aiman Shahbaz (PAK) v [6] Saima Shoukat (PAK)
[7] Rushna Mehboob (PAK) v Fehmina Asim (PAK)
Ilsa Imran (PAK) v [3] Madina Zafar (PAK)
[4] Moqaddas Ashraf (PAK) v [WC] Zahra Juma Khan (PAK)
Noor Ul Ain Ijaz (PAK) v [8] Noor ul Huda (PAK)
[5] Anam Mustafa Aziz (PAK) v Nimra Aqeel (PAK)
Noorena Shams (PAK) v [2] Faiza Zafar (PAK)