30 September 2004	Thursday	14 Shaban 1425

KARACHI, Sept 29: Yasir Khan and Ejaz Usman stole the limelight for Pakistan, when they moved into the quarterfinals in the Karachi Club ITF junior tennis championship, brushing aside foreign opposition on Wednesday at the Karachi Club.

Fifteen-year-old Yasir, the younger brother of Pakistan No.1 Aqeel Khan, sent the Canadian No.5 seed Neil Rajpal packing after three sets, while Ejaz Usman another 15-year-old from Quetta, got the better of Nyi Nyi Tun, Myanmar's No.1 junior, in match that also went the full distance.

Yasir began disastrously losing the first set 6-0 as the Canadian youngster had him running all over the court with well placed forehand and backhand shots. Down in the dumps Yasir changed his strategy and began sending back several loopers to his opponent, who till then seemed to be in full command of the situation. But in his haste to finish off the match, Rajpal committed several unforced errors sending Yasin's loopers out of the court or most times into the net, which enabled Yasin to get back into the game winning the second set 6-4 and drawing abreast 1-1.

In the final set Yasin continued where he had left off in the second and with Rajpal continuing to play his attacking game, sunk deeper into the mire with more errors to make his exit from this tournament losing the final set 6-0.

Ejaz on the other hand lost the first set in a tie breaker 7-5 against Nyi Nyi Tun, who excelled with several passing shots. Not to be undone with this setback, Ejaz relied heavily on his service sending down several aces. On the attack with several powerful forehand and backhand smashes Ejaz pushed his opponent on the defensive, which won him the next two sets and the match 6-1, 6-2.

Ejaz will now take on the top seed Kirti Siributwong of Thailand on Thursday at 2.00 p.m. for a berth in the semifinals, while Yasir faces the fourth seeded Indian Kinshuk Sharma also at 2.00 p.m. for a place in the semis.

Kirti Siributwong ended the pretensions of local boy Haris Iltifat 6-1, 6-2, while his younger brother Peerakit Siributwong seeded at No.7 had to fight real hard in finally disposing of unranked Zaw Khaw Naing from Myanmar 6-4, 7-5.

Fourteen-year-old Nasir Mushtaq who surprised many by reaching the last 16 stage, gave a splendid account of himself with his powerful service which included several aces before going down to the No.2 seed Jitin Bishnoi from India 6-2, 6-4.

Sixteen-year old Vijit Sehgal, seeded No. 3 was another Indian lad who drew plenty of applause from the spectators with a 6-2, 6-0 victory over Mohsin Ali Bhagat. Also moving amongst the last eight were sixth seed Gursher Harika, who beat Danish Ahmed 6-3, 6-3 in a hard fought-out encounter and fourth seed Kinshuk Sharma, who beat his unranked counterpart Rajkanwar Singh 6-3, 6-4.

In the girls events, the 14-year-old top seeded Sri Lankan Amita Arudpragasm was just too good for local girl Tayyaba Bashir, who went down without winning a game, in the quarterfinal.

The same could be said about Ayesha, who crashed out against third seeded Alisha Talwar, and Anila Mamona, who met the same fate at the hands of second seed Inayat Khosla. However, Sara Mansoor did manage to steal a game from fourth seed Su Chit Yee from Myanmar, before making her exit from the tournament. In the men's doubles, Mushtaq and 13-year-old Ghulam Abbas Panju, tried their level best to stem the tide, before going down to the top seeded Thais Kirti and Peerikat Siributwong 6-0, 6-0.

Joining them in the semifinals were second seeds Jitin Bishnoi and Kinshuk Sharma, who accounted for Abdullah Ali and Haris Iltifat 6-2, 6-1, along with fourth seeds Gursher Harika and Rajkanwar Singh who beat Danish Ahmed and Ejaz Usman by the same score line. Third seeds Vijit Sehgal and Neil Rajpal seemed at ease shutting out the challenge of Ali Asghar Bandeali and Daniyal Alvi 6-0, 6-2.

RESULTS:

BOYS SINGLES (PRE-QUARTERFINALS) Ejaz Usman bt Nyi Nyi Tun (Myanmar) 6-7 (7-5), 6-1, 6-2; Kirati Siributwong (Thailand) bt Haris Iltifat 6-1, 6-2; Jitin Bishnoi (India) bt Nasir Mushtaq 6-2, 6-4; Vijit Sehgal (India) bt Mohsin Ali Bhagat 6-2, 6-0; Gursher Harika (India) bt Danish Ahmad 6-3, 6-3; Kinshuk Sharma (India) bt Rajkanwar Singh (India) 6-3, 6-4; Yasir Khan (beat Neil Rajpal (Canada) 0-6, 6-4, 6-0; Peerakit Siributwong (Thailand) bt Zaw Kyaw Naing 6-4, 7-5.

GIRLS SINGLES (QUARTERFINALS) Amita Arudpragasm (Sri Lanka) bt Tayyaba Bashir 6-0, 6-0; Alisha Talwar (India) bt Ayesha 6-0, 6-0; Su Chit Yee (Myanmar) bt Sar Mansoor) 6-1, 6-0; Inayat Khosla (India) bt Anila Mamona 6-0, 6-0.

BOYS DOUBLES (QUARTERFINALS) Kirti Siributwong/Peerikat Sirbutwong (Thailand) bt Ghulam Abbas Panju/ Nasir Mushtaq 6-0, 6-0; Jitin Bishnoi/Kinsuk Sharma (India) bt Abdullah Ali/ Haris Iltifat 6-2, 6-1; Kanwar Raj Singh/Gursher Harika (India) bt Danish Ahmed/ Ejaz Usman 6-2, 6-1; Vijit Sehgal (India)/Neil Rajpal (Canada) bt Ali Asghar Bandeali/Daniyal Alvi 6-0, 6-2.

Following are the fixtures for Thursday.

BOYS SINGLES (QUARTERFINALS) Kirati Siributwong (Thailand) v Ejaz Usman; Jitin Bishnoi (India) v Peerakit Siributwong (Thailand); Kinshuk Sharma (India) v Yasir Khan; Gursher Harika (India) v Vijit Sehgal (India).

GIRLS DOUBLES (SEMIFINALS) Amita Arudpragasm (Sri Lanka)/Su Chit Yee (Myanmar) v Naima Mukhtar/Rabia Parveen; Sara Mansoor/Zehra Ali v Inayat Khosla (India)/Alisha Talwar (India).