December 19, 2006	Tuesday	Ziqa'ad 27, 1427

Please Visit our Sponsor (Ads open in separate window)

LAHORE, Dec 18: Seven matches were decided in the qualifying round of the IC Open National tennis championship at Bagh-i-Jinnah grass courts on Monday. The winners have entered the main round, starting from Tuesday.

In all, 175 entries were received for different events of the one-week competition, carrying a handsome prize money of Rs 450,000.

The competitions will be contested in men's and ladies' singles, U-17 (boys and girls), U-15 (boys) and U-13 (girls).

In the men's singles, 32 players will play in the main round while in other events only 16, each.

The winner of men's singles will pocket Rs 50,000 and of ladies' singles Rs 25,000.

Moreover, secretary International Lawn Tennis Club of Pakistan (ILTCP) Saeed Ahmed said that two boys and as many girls, who will perform better in the competition would represent Pakistan in Junior Challenge Cup to be held in India in March next year. He said besides the original prize money of Rs 450,000, a total of Rs 150,000 would also be given to the best performers in the juniors' section.

He said the country's top tennis players Aisam-ul-Haq and Aqeel Khan have not confirmed their entries as yet.

Other prominent players who have their participation are Jalil Khan, Asim Shafik, Nomi Qamar, Inam Gul, Mohammad Shafiq, Shahzad Khan and Yasir Khan.

In ladies' singles, Sara Mehboob is top seed and Natasha Afridi is second seed.

Yasir Khan leads the ranking for U-17 boys's event while Tanveer Ashiq is second seed.

Results (qualifying round, one off-set matches):

Nasir Sherazi bt Adil Ashraf 6-0; Nasir Mushtaq bt Syed Abbas Raza6-2; Haris Aziz bt Raza Tariq 6-0; Hassan Saeed bt Masroor Ahmed 6-0; Masood Ahmed bt Wakil Khan 6-3; Arif Feroze bt Rizwan Khan 6-2; Aftab Anwar bt Akbar Khan 6-4.