October 28, 2003	Tuesday	Ramazan 1, 1424

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LAHORE, Oct 27: Punjab Lawn Tennis Association (PLTA) has planned to organise two national tournaments in December this year and nine the next year.

PLTA senior vice-president Iftikhar Ahmad Rao told Dawn on Sunday that the decision had been approved by the executive committee.

Iftikhar said that Haleeb Cup national junior tournament will be held in the first week of December, while the second the Khawaja Iftikhar memorial national tournament would be held from Dec 30 to Jan 4.

Khawja was one of the best tennis players of the country and this event will be an regular annual feature of the PLTA.

He explained next year Lahore will host two national tournaments while Sahiwal, Multan, Rahimyar Khan, Sargodha, Faisalabad, Gujranwala and Rawalpindi, one each.

He added that Sialkot could also be allotted one tournament.

Iftikhar, said that PLTA had offered Aqeel Khan a foreign tour as a reward for winning the Davis Cup tie against South Korea 3-2 in Lahore in September this year.

He said that Aqeel would inform PLTA whether he wants to play in India or Thailand.

Iftikhar agreed that as host of the tie PLTA had delayed to honour the Davis Cup winning team so far but added the main reason for that was the unavailability of the players due to back to back tournaments at Karachi and Islamabad immediately after the tie.

He said that PLTA would organise a function to honour the team in a befitting manner.

Iftikhar, said that PLTA had decided to set up an Under-12 training camp in which the best five players of the province would be groomed for high level competitions.