Aamir Atlas Khan Heads Record World Championship Field
The biennial World Squash Federation event will be followed in the Swiss city by the World Junior Men's Team Championship, from 2-7 August. With teams for the first time from the Cayman Islands, China, Ecuador and Guatemala, the team championship boasts a record entry of 32 nations.
China, hosts of the 2008 Olympic Games, are making notable progress in the world of Squash: The nation made its international debut in the World Junior Women's Championships in Hong Kong in 2007 after hosting its maiden Tour event in Shanghai in 2004.
A semi-finalist in the individual championship in 2004 and 2006, Aamir Atlas Khan will be hoping that it will be third time lucky in Zurich. The 17-year-old from Peshawar faces New Zealander Lui Syder in the 128-man third round draw.
If successful, Khan would become only the third Pakistani to win the title - but the first since his legendary uncle Jansher Khan lifted the trophy in Australia in 1986, before going on to win the senior World Open crown for a record eight times!
Egyptian Mohamed El Shorbagy, also 17, is the No2 seed, while Switzerland's Nicolas Mueller and Frenchman Gregoire Marche - who contested the 2008 European Junior Championship final - are third and fourth seeds, respectively.
Nicolas Mueller will lead home interest in the event. The 18-year-old from Hirzel, near Zurich, became the first Swiss player to win the European Junior title in 2007.
With the top four seeds reflecting the strength of squash in Asia, Africa and Europe, Pan American interest in the event will be led by USA's Todd Harrity and Canadian Kelly Shannon - both 17/32 seeds - while Oceanian eyes will be on New Zealander Evan Williams and Australians Matthew Hopkin and Jacob Alexander, also 17/32 seeds.
As a result of the unprecedented entry list, two early 'feed-in' rounds have been introduced - with most team players entering the fray at the third round stage.
1st round draw:
Paul Rodrigues (RSA) v Jake Kelly (CAY)
Nicholas Sisedia (USA) v Claudio Merlo (SUI)
Danish Atlas Khan (PAK) v Durosimi Moses Adebola (NGR)
Amar Gupta (CAN) v Shinnosuke Tsukue (JPN)
Simon Summers (AUS) v Marco Graziotti (SUI)
Clay Blackiston (USA) v Esetang Akpan Esetang (NGR)
James Earles (ENG) v Joe Chapman (IVB)
Kah Wah Cheong (MAS) v Wang Jun Jie (CHN)
Luke Sims (AUS) v Karan Malik (IND)
Adam Perkiomaki (USA) v Dominik Penkov (SUI)
Nicholas Hopcroft (ENG) v Ahmad Al-Randi (KUW)
Nosherwan Khan (PAK) v Shen Jia Qi (CHN)
Tomas Toth (SVK) v Chris Hanson (USA)
Ajagbe Babatunde Ayomide (NGR) v Arjun Gupta (CAN)
Meng Xiaomin (CHN) v Adel Mohamed El Zarka (EGY)
Bradley Soutar (AUS) v Nasser Al-Rashid (KUW)
Abishek Pradhan (IND) v Alain Osman Mudeen (CAY)
Kale Wilson (TRI) v Adam Murrills (ENG)
Cameron Stafford (CAY) v Muhammad Zul Azri (MAS)
Nicolas Schuler (SUI) v Daniel Hutchines (LUX)
Ahmed El Mehelmy (EGY) v Ramit Tandon (IND)
Charles Sharpes (ENG) v Miroslav Celler (SVK)
Mahesh Mangaonkar (IND) v Shedara Femi (NGR)
Ryan McConvey (CAY) bye
3rd round draw:
[1] Aamir Atlas Khan (PAK) v Lui Syder (NZL)
Hugo Varela Campo (ESP) v Philip Tran (DEN)
Gustav Runersjo (SWE) v Lucas Serme (FRA)
[17/32] Kelly Shannon (CAN) v Alejandro Suarez (VEN)
[17/32] Todd Harrity (USA) v Joonas Honkanen (FIN)
Thakabi Moholo (RSA) v Antonio de la Torre (GUA)
Felipe Bueno Almeida (ECU) v Ravi Dixit (IND)
[9/16] Wael Farag (EGY) v Sam Fenwick (WAL)
[9/16] Mohd Shoaib Hassan (PAK) v Raphael Kandra (GER)
Zbynek Standera (CZE) v Noah DaBell (BER)
Tom de Mulder (BEL) v Patrick Miescher (SUI)
[17/32] Jacob Alexander (AUS) v Alberto Matteazzi (ITA)
[17/32] Nelson Chan (HKG) v Kevin Davey (IRL)
Andrew Schnell (CAN) v 2nd round winner
Michael Ernst (NED) v 2nd round winner
[5/8] Andrew Wagih Shoukry (EGY) v Shamlan A Ali (KUW)
[5/8] Waqar Mehboob (PAK) v Nicholas Sachvie (CAN)
Daniel Mekbib (CZE) v Alex Domenick (USA)
Wian Louwrens (RSA) v Daniel Cueva Mosquera (ECU)
[17/32] Evan Williams (NZL) v 2nd round winner
[17/32] Alex Ingham (ENG) v Casper Grauballe (DEN)
David Haley (WAL) v Lukas Burkhart (SUI)
Paramit Singh (IND) v Fausto Gomez (ESP)
[9/16] Leo Au (HKG) v Sam van Brusselen (BEL)
[9/16] Amr Khaled Khalifa (EGY) v Johan Detter (SWE)
Micah Franklin (BER) v Lorenzo Fortunato Colucci (ITA)
Nasser Al-Hussaini (KUW) v Tim van der Pluijm (NED)
[17/32] Kamran Khan (MAS) v Dean Russell (RSA)
[17/32] Florian Silbernagl (GER) v Fung Ji Yang (HKG)
Mauricio Sedano (GUA) v 2nd round winner
Aaron Fyfe (AUS) v Alan Tighe (IRL)
[4] Gregoire Marche (FRA) v Daniel Prato (VEN)
[3] Nicolas Mueller (SUI) v Ondrej Uherka (CZE)
Luis Pedro Flores (GUA) v Li Zhi Yuan (CHN)
Rudi Rohrmuller (GER) v Laurens Mostmans (BEL)
[17/32] Lucas Vauzelle (FRA) v Ville Hiltunen (FIN)
[17/32] Matthew Hopkin (AUS) v 2nd round winner
Mohammed Abdulrahman Al Tawari (KUW) v Kristian Nielsen de Silva (DEN)
Daniel Pascual Martinez (ESP) v 2nd round winner
[9/16] Karim Abdel Gawad (EGY) v Wilfredo Arcia (VEN)
[9/16] Henrik Mustonen (FIN) v Francisco Alvaro Asimbaya (ECU)
Colm Dolan (IRL) v Robert Maycock (BER)
Fred Reid (CAN) v Matt Domenick (USA)
[17/32] Aditya Jagtap (JPN) v Jo Wen Ng (MAS)
[17/32] Hywel Robinson (WAL) v Keegan Burkhart (NZL)
Dimitri Diamadopoulos (ITA) v 2nd round winner
Truls Olterman (SWE) v Rick Penders (NED)
[5/8] Adrian Waller (ENG) v 2nd round winner
[5/8] Joe Lee (ENG) v 2nd round winner
Alex Christensson (SWE) v Choy Kit Lun (HKG)
Tomas de Paauw (NED) v 2nd round winner
[17/32] Farhan Zaman (PAK) v Lau Ulrik Kiehn (DEN)
[17/32] Mohd Sayed Mahmoud Aly (EGY) v Robin Schreurs (BEL)
Bryan Bonilla (GUA) v Thomas Mattson (USA)
Marco d'Adam (ITA) v Norman Junge (GER)
[9/16] Ivan Yuen (MAS) v 2nd round winner
[9/16] Vikram Malhotra (IND) v Fahad Al-Ramezi (KUW)
Josh Larkin (AUS) v 2nd round winner
Antoine Camille Petrucci (FRA) v Orlando Rodriguez Ordonez (ECU)
[17/32] Cameron Jamieson (NZL) v Mikael Siren (FIN)
[17/32] Chris Fuller (ENG) v Mithran Selvaratnam (MAS)
Reinhold Hergeth (RSA) v Jonas Daehler (SUI)
Theodore Anderson (IRL) v Roman Svec (CZE)
[2] Mohamed El Shorbagy (EGY) v Damian Arosa Rodriguez (ESP)