18 July 2004	Sunday	29 Jamadi-ul-Awwal 1425

KARACHI, July 17: Pakistan No. 1 Aqeel Khan was crowned the men's singles champion, when he beat second seed Nomi Qamar in straight sets at the Karachi Club on Saturday.

Aqeel drew first blood, but not before the first game was awarded to him which lasted 10 long minutes with four deuces.

Nomi cashing in on his service soon made it 1-1 and the two refusing to budge an inch, raced along 5-5, until Aqeel broke Nomi's service and serving for the set grabbed the opener 7-5.

Playing better as the game progressed, Aqeel with some superb aces drew away and with Nomi contributing to his doom with several unforced errors, the top seed led 5-2. Nomi managed to pinch another game with his service, but the match was soon over in his opponent's favour, when Aqeel served for the set and match 6-3, which lasted one hour 25 minutes.

Aqeel had a double triumph in this tournament. Pairing up with younger brother Jalil, the two beat Shehzad Khan and Wasif Cheema in three gruelling games the previous evening in three hard fought out sets.

The ladies singles between top seed Marium Rahim and second seed Nida Wasim ended quite abruptly with Nida leading 4-0 and serving 30-0.

Marium walked off the court complaining of severe pains and stomach cramps.

In the boys under-15 doubles, the top pair of Khurram Nazirand Talha Dar prevailed over Nasir Mushtaq and Ghulam Abbas Panju 6-3, 6-2.

The Seniors event was won by former national champion Inam ul Haq and Tariq Saddozai beating the fighting combination of Shahid Hussain and Humayun Zafar 6-4, 7-6 (7-2).

Inam and Tariq won the tiebreaker 7-2 and each earned Rs.3000 as prize money. The losers on the other hand received Rs.1500.

A day earlier, Lahore's Usman Baber bagged the boys under-17 event beating Usman Ijaz in straight sets. Usman went home richer by Rs.10,000.

The boys under-15 champion Khurram Nazir won Rs.10,000 with runner-up Ali Asgher Bandeali receiving Rs.4000. Ghulam Abbas Panju, who won the under-13 event beating Hera Ashiq in a tiebreaker 7-5 in the final set after the two were locked 1-1, received his trophy and Rs.6000, while Hera was handed the runners-up trophy and purse for Rs.2400.

Final results:

Men's singles: Aqeel Khan bt Nomi Qamar 7-5, 6-3.

Ladies singles: Nida Wasim bt Marium Rahim 4-0 (retired)

Boys doubles under-15: Khurram Nazir/Talha Dar bt Nasir Mushtaq/Ghulam Abbas Panju 6-3, 6-2.

Seniors doubles: Inamul Haq/Tariq Saddozai bt Shahid Hussain/Humuyan Zafar 6-4, 7-6 (7-2).