February 21, 2008	Thursday	Safar 13, 1429

KARACHI, Feb 20: The local players get another opportunity — second of the year — to struggle for the top slots when the Sindh ranking tennis tournament gets into action at the DHA Sunset courts from March 1, the organisers announced on Wednesday.

The first Sindh ranking event of the year ended at the same venue recently.

The event which carries a total prize money of Rs 30,000 will be played in men’s singles, ladies singles, juniors U-17 singles, boys U-15 singles, boys and girls U-13 and U-9 singles, juniors U-17 doubles and mixed doubles.

Former Davis Cupper Nomi Qamar and Khalid Ali Nazar will miss the event as they are undergoing two-month ban which was slapped by the STA following their unsporting attitude in the final of the 11th Sindh Games at Sukkur.

During their absence, couple of promising players namely Nasir Mushtaq, Abdul Rehman, Adil Kohari, Nameer Shamsi and Zuhair Raza have chance to prove their worth.

Rehman and Shamsi had to leave the last event halfway by proceeding to Islamabad to appear in national juniors’ trials which were also joined by Adil and Zuhair.

Two of the four, Shamsi and Adil did Sindh proud when they were selected in the Pakistan team for ITF 14 and under tournament being held at Malaysia.

Zuhair has returned from India recently after undergoing strenuous training at the Ludhiana-based Harvest Tennis Academy.

Meanwhile, the STA has offered a daily allowance of RS300 to outstation players of the province until elimination. The rural associations of the game have a casual attitude pertaining to participation in Sindh ranking events.