KARACHI, Dec 20: Pakistan’s Khalid Atlas Khan has been installed as the top seed in the boys under-19 event of the 2004 British Junior Open squash championships to be played in Sheffield next month.

According to the draws of the tournament announced on Saturday, the seedings of the boys age-group competitions are dominated by Pakistanis who won three of the four boys titles at stake last year.

Khalid, a nephew of former world champion Jansher Khan, will be the favourite for the prestigious British under-19 title known as the Drysdale Cup as he is the highest-rated and most experienced player in the competition.

The British Junior Championships to be held from Jan 2 to 6 is set to attract most of the leading youth players from around the world.

The Peshawar-based Khalid is presently ranked number 99 in the international professional rankings and was a semifinalist in the last-year’s competition.

In the 2004 edition Khalid will start his title campaign with a match against local player Quintero Getler in the first round. Khalid’s expected second round opponent will be Kimlee Wong of Malaysia and is then seeded to meet ninth seed Amr Azmy of Egypt in the third round.

He is likely to face Egypt’s fifth seed Mahmoud Adel El Said in quarters and may clash against compatriot Yasir Butt, seeded fourth, in the semifinals. Yasir Butt was the British Under-17 champion last year.

England’s Laurence Delasaux is the second seed in the under-19 event and is likely to meet Khalid in the final.

Last year Peshawar’s Safeerullah Khan defeated European champion Dylan Bennet from Holland in the final to win the under-19 crown.

Another Pakistani, Farhan Mahboob is the top seed in the under-17 event of the tournament. Also a nephew of Jansher Khan, Farhan lost in the final of the under-17 event last year.

Ranked number 92 in the world rankings, Farhan will open his title campaign against local boy Fuller Gunasegara in the first round. Farhan’s chief rival for the title will be Egypt’s second seed Omar Mossad Abou Zeid.

Mohamed Reda of Egypt is the top seed in the boys under-15 event while Pakistan’s Amir Khan, the under-13 champion last year, is the second seed.

In the under-13 event, Egypt’s Mohamed Hossam and Ali Farag are number one and number two seeds respectively.

Egypt’s girls led by under-19 title favourite Omneya Abdel Kawy dominate the seedings in the girls age-group competitions.

Following are the seedings of the eight events to be contested during the British Junior Championships:

Boys under-19: [1] Khalid Atlas Khan (Pak) [2] Laurence Delasaux (Eng) [}] Sherif Kamel (Egy) [}] Yasir Butt (Pak)

Boys under-17: 1] Farhan Mehboob (Pak) [2] Omar Mossad Abou Zeid (Egy) [}] Simon Rosner (Ger) [}] Chris Simpson (Eng)

Boys under-15:[1] Mohamed Reda (Egy) [2] Amir Khan (Pak) [}] Karim Osman (Egy) [}] Adnan Khan (Pak)

Boys under-13:1] Mohamed Hossam (Egy) [2] Ali Farag (Egy) [}] Danish Atlas (Pak) [}] Waqar Mehboob (Pak).—PPI