August 21, 2007	Tuesday	Sha’aban 7, 1428

KARACHI, Aug 20: Top seed Shiva Sangwan, ranked 413 in the world, was optimistic of making headlines in the ITF juniors’ ranking tennis tournament which commenced on Monday with 32 players vying for honours in the main round.

“My recent performance in ITF juniors’ grade four tournaments at Syria has given me a big boost and am confident to return with flying clours,” the Chandigarh-based player told Dawn.

Shiva, a 12th Grade student, made it to the last four in back-to-back tournaments losing to a local player in one and to a Qatar’s opponent in the other.

Together with compatriot Parul Verma the pair played the doubles final where they lost to Syrians. He is also semi-finalists of ITF juniors’ world ranking event held at Islamabad last year.

He said the ongoing event is rated grade five which gives him advantage over other competitors. He is scheduled to feature in Grade two and Grade three ITF juniors’ China Open next month.

Girls top seed Inayat Khosla who also hails from Chandigarh sound confident of doing better in the tournament.

“There are couple of good players including Sarah Mahboob but I will try to prove the mettle,” she told Dawn.

The memories of winning U-14 crown in ITF tournament in the city three years back are still fresh in her minds. She has also featured in juniors’ tournament at Islamabad and Lahore in 2005.