CNS International Squash Championship 2026 in Karachi: Draw, Dates and 7 Pakistani Players

The PSA draw is out. Eight seeds get a bye into the second round, and the other 16 players start on Tuesday 1 December. The final is on Saturday 5 December.

The CNS International runs from 1 to 5 December in Karachi

The 17th CNS International Squash Championship is a PSA Challenger 18 event in Karachi, played from 1 to 5 December 2026 with $18,000 for the men's draw. CNS stands for Chief of the Naval Staff. Only a men's event is listed.

It is the middle event of three PSA tournaments in Pakistan in a row. The CAS International in Islamabad comes first, from 24 to 28 November. The Sindh Open in Karachi follows from 6 to 10 December, the day after the CNS final.

The PSA lists the semi-finals at 3 pm and 4 pm on 4 December. The final's time is not set yet. Times are given as the PSA lists them for Karachi.

Seven Pakistanis are in the 24-player draw

Seven of the 24 players are Pakistani. Muhammad Asim Khan is seeded 5th. Nasir Iqbal, Hamza Khan, Tayyab Aslam and Anas Shah are in the main draw, and Hassan Paracha and Adnan Zaman Khan have wild cards.

Asim Khan is ranked 72nd in the world, the highest-ranked Pakistani in the event. Nasir Iqbal is 93rd and Hamza Khan 107th. Noor Zaman, Pakistan's number one, is not entered. He plays the CAS International a week earlier and the Sindh Open straight after.

Our Pakistan squash rankings page explains how PSA world rankings work and where every Pakistani stands.

Egypt's Moustafa Elsirty is the top seed

Moustafa Elsirty of Egypt is the number 1 seed and is ranked 50th in the world. Malaysia's Sanjay Jeeva is seeded 2nd and Egypt's Mohamed Sharaf 3rd. Six of the eight seeds are from Egypt or Malaysia.

Egypt and Pakistan have seven players each in the draw, and Malaysia has four. The rest come from Hong Kong, France, Switzerland, Belgium, Germany and Bahrain.

The seed order is the PSA's own, so the current rankings shown here do not line up exactly with it.

Five first-round matches involve Pakistani players

Five of the eight first-round matches on 1 December have a Pakistani player. One is an all-Pakistani match: Nasir Iqbal against wild card Adnan Zaman Khan. Asim Khan has a bye and plays his first match on 2 December.

1. 12 pm: Hamza Khan v Ismail Amr Abdellatif (Egypt).
2. 12:45 pm: Tayyab Aslam v Duncan Lee (Malaysia).
3. 4:45 pm: Nasir Iqbal v Adnan Zaman Khan (both Pakistan).
4. 5:30 pm: Anas Shah v Ibrahim Elkabbani (Egypt).
5. 6:15 pm: Hassan Paracha v Louai Hafez (Switzerland).

The other three first-round matches are Joeri Hapers v Matthew Lai, Finn Lennart Koch v Ameeshenraj Chandaran, and Eiad Daoud v Yusuf Thani. Results go up on the PSA tournament page as each match ends.

Karachi hosts two PSA events in December

Karachi hosts the CNS International from 1 to 5 December and the bigger Sindh Open from 6 to 10 December. The Sindh Open has $65,000 each for men and women. Several CNS players, including Elsirty, Jeeva, Sharaf and Assal, are entered in both.

For Pakistani players ranked between 70 and 230, the CNS event is a chance to earn ranking points at home. The CAS draw in Islamabad is on our CAS International 2026 draw page, and the full season is on our Pakistan squash calendar 2026-27.

Common questions

When is the CNS International Squash Championship 2026?

From Tuesday 1 to Saturday 5 December 2026 in Karachi.

How much prize money does the CNS International offer?

$18,000 for the men's draw. It is a PSA Challenger 18 event.

How many Pakistani players are in the CNS International?

Seven: Muhammad Asim Khan, Nasir Iqbal, Hamza Khan, Tayyab Aslam, Anas Shah, Hassan Paracha and Adnan Zaman Khan.

Who is the top seed?

Moustafa Elsirty of Egypt, ranked 50th in the world.

Is Noor Zaman playing the CNS International?

No. He is not in the draw. He is the top seed at the CAS International and the 5th seed at the Sindh Open.

What does CNS stand for?

Chief of the Naval Staff, the head of the Pakistan Navy.

How we verified this

What we checked and where we read it.

Checked on 15 November 2026, about 2:15 am PKT. Dates, prize money, tier, entrants, seeds, wild cards and the round-by-round schedule come from the PSA tournament page, 17th CNS International Squash Championship 2026, last updated on 14 November. World rankings and countries come from each player's PSA profile, read the same night. The country counts are our own. Some later-round slots on the PSA page show 00:00 as a placeholder, so the final's time is left open. The Sindh Open details come from its own PSA tournament page.