April 08, 2008	Tuesday	Rabi-us-Sani 1, 1429

KARACHI, April 7: The domestic tennis scene kicks-off at the Karachi Club on Saturday with the staging of Rs 0.2 million Pakistan Open ranking tennis championships under the aegis of Sindh Tennis Association.

The details of the competition were announced by tournament director, Altaf Hussain at a press conference held at the KC on Monday.

Country’s top tennis player Aqeel Khan will defend men’s singles crown upon his return from Tehran where he had gone to feature in Davis Cup.

Tennis fraternity will, however, miss Pakistan No 1 and holder Nida Waseem, as she has left for England after receiving Pride of Performance award.

The men’s singles will have a draw of 32 — top 20 of latest PTF ranking to be joined by eight qualifiers and four wild card whereas the ladies singles will see 16 players — top 12 to be joined by two qualifiers and as many wild card.

The men’s singles winner will fetch Rs30,000 while the ladies singles winner will receive Rs12,000.

Besides the men’s and ladies singles other events include juniors U-17 singles, boys U-15 U-13 singles, and men’s doubles.

Last date for submission of entries is April 10. The qualifying rounds will be held on Saturday if entries exceed size of draw while the main rounds begin from Sunday. The curtain will fall on the event on April 18.

Speaking on the occasion, Irfan K. Qureshi, sponsor’s representative, threw light on his firm’s support to the promotion of healthy sports activities.

Khwaja Saeed Hai, Khalid Rehmani, Munawwer Sheikh and Alamgir Sheikh also spoke on the occasion.