July 21, 2007	Saturday	Rajab 05, 1428

KARACHI, July 20: Five foreigners including three Indians have so far confirmed their participation in the two legs of ITF Pakistan international boys and girls U-18 tennis championships which takes place at the Karachi Club courts from Aug 20 to Sept 2.

Those who have sent their entries include Gurmohit Singh, Sandeep Sood, S. V. Abhishek (all from India), Jessica Laing (South Africa) and Yam Chunming (Hong Kong).

Three promising Pakistani players – Yasir Khan, Nasir Mushtaq and Sarah Mehboob – have also submitted their entries.

The first leg of the event which has been sponsored by an NGO, Community Foundation, runs from Aug 20 to 26. This will be followed by the second leg from Aug 27 to Sept 2.

The first leg will be preceded by two-day qualifying rounds for both boys and girls which are to be held on Aug 18 and 19.

Last date for submission of entries is July 27 and the entry fee is $ 30. The events to take place are boys, girls’ singles and doubles.

“An amount of Rs3,00,000 would be incurred on hosting the two world ranking group five events”, tournament director, Khalid Rehmani told Dawn on Friday.

No prize money would be at stake and only ranking points will be given to successful players.

Meanwhile, the annual Arif Habib national ranking tennis tournament may not take place this year due to prior committment of events and Ramzan falling in the months of September.