10 July 2004	Saturday	21 Jamadi-ul-Awwal 1425

KARACHI, July 9: Viki Kumar made his way through to the qualifying round in the boys singles under-15, after getting the better of Shahzad Khan in a thriller on the hard courts of the Karachi Club on Friday.

After winning the first set at 6-3, Viki was in for a rude shock when Shahzad bounced back to take the second set 6-2 to level the scores 1-1.

In the final set with both players refusing to surrender an inch of ground, the scores were level at 2-2, 3-3, 4-4 and 5-5, before Viki pulled away to take the set and match 7-5.

In another interesting encounter that went to the wire, S.M. Naeem finally got the better of Hamza Siddiqui 6-4, 4-6, 6-2, in the boys singles under-17. Also going through to the qualifying rounds was Salman Ali, who crushed Mohammad Sadiq Edhi 6-3, 6-0.

In the boys singles under-15, Manoj Das accounted for Mohammad Shaheer Anwar 6-1, 6-2 and was then joined by his cousin Wilson Das, who triumphed 6-0, 7-5 over Kashif Khan. The Das clan seemed to be on a winning spree on Friday, when Vinod Das shut out Jehanzeb Khan 6-2, 6-2.

Meanwhile, Pakistan No.3 Nomi Qamar has been banned by the Pakistan Tennis Federation (PTF) from competing in the tournament over a television interview. The main rounds will begin on Saturday at 9.00am.

Aqeel Khan was seeded top in men's singles with Nomi Qamar at No.2 and Jalil Khan at No.3. Marium Rahim was the women's top seed. Nida Wasim was seeded second and Sana Bhagat at No.3

The first round of the boys singles under-17 will begin on Saturday at 9.00 and the men's singles will begin at 1.00pm.

Results (qualifying rounds).

Men's singles:

Vinod Das bt Jehanzeb Khan 6-2, 6-2. Mubashir Hasan Afridi w/o Farrukh Ali Baig; Haris Iltifat w/o M. Essa Jee.

Boys singles under-17.

Salman Ali bt Muhammad Sadiq Edhi 6-3, 6-0; S.M. Naeem bt Hamza Siddiqui 6-4, 4-6, 6-2. Jehanzeb w/o Anil Das.

Boys singles under-15.

Manoj Das bt Mohammad Shaheer Anwar 6-1, 6-2; Viki Kumar bt Shahzad Khan 6-3, 2-6, 7-5; Wilson Das bt Kashif Khan 6-0, 7-5. Umair Shahid w/o Umair Ahmed.