September 30, 2003	Tuesday	Sha’aban 3, 1424

Please Visit our Sponsor (Ads open in separate window)

ISLAMABAD, Sept 29: Naumanul Haq on Monday moved into the pre quarterfinals of the ITF International Junior tennis championship with a hard-fought victory over Abid Ali.

In the day’s only three set match in the boys singles competition, Nauman scored a 6-2, 5-7, 6-4 victory over his opponent who put up quite a fight before going down.

As many as eight Pakistanis, six Indians and a player each from Thailand and Sri Lanka won their first round matches of the tournament being held at the Islamabad Club courts.

Among the Pakistani winners were Wasif Cheema who defeated Nasir Mahmood 6-0, 6-0, Shahzad Khan who too scored an identical win over Imran Rasool and Ali Abdullah, a 6-1, 6-3 conqueror of Changez Afridi.

M. Usman Ejaz was the other home player who went through with a 6-0, 6-0 rout of Talal Khan as did Mutib Pasha, Yahya Nauman and Shahrukh Niazi, all advancing with easy victories.

The Indian players also did well, Rupesh Roy leading the way with a 6-2, 6-3 knock out of Pakistan’s Adnan Khan. His country- fellow Kaushik Das beat Ejaz Ahmed 6-1, 6-1 while Sandeep Kumar defeated Tabish Raza 6-2, 6-2 and Vivek Shokeen outplayed Ahmed Ali 6-0, 6-0.

Lalit Mann continued India’s run with a 6-2, 7-5 win over Sibtain Masood and Sumit Gupta rounded off a fine day’s work for the Indians downing Danish Ahmed 6-1, 6-1.

Peerakit Siributwong of Thailand also made the pre quarterfinals, his victim being Pakistan’s Haris Iltifat 6-1, 6- 0. Similarly Sri Lanka’s Nishendiran Sivendiran eliminated another home player, Ashiq Tanveer 6-3, 7-5.

In the girls singles events, only four matches were played with Indians starring. Daksha Mulay, Puja Paul and Poojashree Venkatesh all won their respective matches. Sri Lanka’s Amita Arudpragasam was the other winner.

Results:

Boys singles first round: Rupesh Roy (Ind) bt Adnan Khan (Pak) 6-2, 6-3, Peerakit Siributwong (Tha) bt Haris Iltifat (Pak) 6-1, 6-0, Wasif Cheema (Pak) bt Nasir Mahmood (Pak) 6-0, 6- 0, Naumanul Haq (Pak) bt Abid Ali (Pak) 6-2, 5-7, 6-4, Shahzad Khan (Pak) bt Imran Rasool (Pak) 6-0, 6-0, Kaushik Das (Ind) bt Ejaz Ahmed (Pak) 6-1, 6-1, Ali Abdullah (Pak) bt Changez Afridi (Pak) 6-1, 6-3, Sandeep Kumar (Ind) bt Tabish Raza (Pak) 6-2, 6- 2, Vivek Shokeen (Ind) bt Ahmed Ali (Pak) 6-0, 6-0, Lalit Mann (Ind) bt Sibtain Masood (Pak) 6-2, 7-5, M. Usman Ejaz (Pak) bt Talal Khan (Pak) 6-0, 6-0, Nishendiran Sivendiran (Sri) bt Tanveer Ashiq (Pak), 6-3, 7-5, Mutib Pasha (Pak) bt Raheel Chaudhry (Pak) 6-0, 6-0, Nauman Yahya (pak) bt Arjumand Masood (Pak) 6-0, 6-0, Shahrukh Niazi (Pak) bt Shehryar Ashraf (Pak) 6- 2, 6-0, Sumit Gupta (Ind) bt Danish Ahmed (Pak) 6-1, 6-1.

Girls singles first round: Daksha Mulay (Ind) bt Thiyumi Abeysinghe (Sri) 6-3, 7-5, Puja Paul (Ind) bt Sara Mansoor 6-1, 6-2, Amita Arudpragasam Amita (Sri) bt Anoosha Aslam (Pak) 6-1, 6-1, Poojashree Venkatesh (Ind) bt Punchanok Khunpitak (Tha) 4-6, 7-6, 6-1.