THE chances of a local player making the second round of the Hongkong Open next month look remote with the territory's two representatives, Andrew Shum Siu-chung and Faheem Khan, drawn against the top two seeds, Chris Dittmar and Jansher Khan respectively. On completion of the draw Shum turned to Faheem and said jokingly: ''I'll see you in the final then.'' Shum, who is ranked 70th in the world but got a wild card entry into the main draw of the Cathay Pacific/Unisys-sponsored event, watched in dismay as his number was first out of the hat in yesterday's draw. That put him into the number two slot in the 32-player draw, handing him an opening round encounter with top seed and world number one Chris Dittmar of Australia. Faheem, by contrast, had to wait until the very end before his number was drawn, pitting him against world champion Jansher Khan, who slipped to second spot on the world ranking chart after he was penalised with three zero-point scores for late withdrawals from tournaments. ''I guess the luck of the draw just wasn't with us,'' said Shum, who was hoping to make an impact as the first locally-born Chinese player in the main draw of the $500,000 event. ''But I've got nothing to lose. It is an honour in itself to be playing the world number one and I can only say I'll be giving it my best shot.'' Former Pakistani junior champion Faheem, who has made Hongkong his home for the past four years, faces an equally daunting task against Jansher. He said: ''I was quite confident of my chances as long as I didn't draw any of the top four but it's just bad luck that I have to meet Jansher in the first round. ''I've played him twice and lost 3-0 in both matches but I'll be giving him a harder game this time.'' Jansher must go into the tournament as favourite for the $90,000 winner's cheque as he has never been beaten in Hongkong before, winning the event on his five other visits. He is determined to regain his world number one position by capturing his sixth Hongkong title and he should have little trouble in reaching the semi-final before his first test, with a possible clash with defending champion and world number three Rodney Martin of Australia. The Hongkong Open, twice voted the most popular event by the professional players, has attracted eight of the world's top nine players. Besides Dittmar, Jansher and Martin, others in the top nine heading for Hongkong are Brett Martin, Peter Marshall, Rodney Eyles, Tristan Nancarrow and Philip Whitlock. ''It is unfortunate that New Zealand's world number six Ross Norman couldn't come because he is carrying an injury,'' said Chris Coulcher, honorary secretary of the Hongkong Squash Racquets Association. ''Ross has been a regular in this tournament since our first edition and in fact he sent an apology for failing to make it this time. We wish him a speedy recovery. and hope to see him back again next year.''
