Abid faces Aqeel in semi-final

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Davis Cupper Mohammad Abid Ali Akbar set up a semi-final showdown with top-ranked Aqeel Khan after he overcame Heera Ashiq 6-2, 6-3 in their last-eight clash at the Fauji Fertilizer Company Open National Ranking Tennis Championships on Thursday.

Abid Ali completed the semi-final quartet with Aqeel, Mohammad Abid and Yasir Khan having booked their spots on Wednesday.

He broke Heera in the third and the fifth game to take the first set. The second set was level 3-3 before Abid broke Heera in the eighth game en route to victory.

Sarah Mahboob and Ushna Sohail will clash for the women’s singles title after they won their semi-finals on Thursday.

Sarah romped to a double-bagel 6-0, 6-0 win over Shahida Badshah while Ushna, who plays on the WTA circuit, used her array of shots to overcome Pakistan No. 1 Sara Mansoor 6-3, 6-1.

The final of the boys’ U-18 singles was also decided on Thursday and will be contested by Saqib Umar and Aman Atiq. Aman, seeded fifth, thrashed fifth-seeded Ibrahim Iltifat 6-0, 6-0 while Saqib Umer defeated SNGPL team-mate Yousuf Khan 6-2, 1-6, 6-3.

Elsewhere, top-seeded Huzaifa Abdul Rehman beat Hamza Bin Rehan 7-5, 6-2 to reach the boys’ U-14 final where he will face Shoaib Khan who was a 6-2, 6-2 winner over Aqib Umar. —Sports Reporter

Ranking tennis begins at Karachi Club today

KARACHI: The third Indus Pharma National Juniors & Seniors Tennis Championship begins on Friday (today) at the newly-laid ultra-modern plexipave synthetic surface at the Karachi Club. As many as one hundred and sixty entries have been received for the tournament.

A media briefing to announce the details of the event was held earlier this week at Karachi Club which was jointly addressed by Khawaja Saeed Hai, senior executive vice president of the Pakistan Tennis Federation (PTF) Zahid Saeed, CE of Indus Pharma Pvt. Ltd and and Gulzar Firoz, vice President PTF.

Sports convener Karachi Club Asad Ali Bhagat and secretary PTF Khalid Rehmani were also present on the occasion.

The events to be contested in the tournament include juniors U-18 singles, 16 & under singles, 14 & under singles, 12 & under singles, seniors 35 singles & doubles, 45 plus doubles and 55 plus doubles. One event for special tennis players will also be contested.

All out-station juniors main draw players will get Rs600 as daily allowance and economy class railway fare. Rs50,000 will be distributed as cash prizes among juniors. The matches start at 10:00am.—Agencies

National Beach Games set for November

KARACHI: The inaugural National Beach Games will be held in the city from Nov 6-8. The dates were finalised in the executive committee meeting of the Sindh Olympic Association (SOA) here recently with its president retired Brig Rashid Malik in the chair.

The SOA secretary said on Thursday that some 1500 sportspersons belonging to the affiliated units of the Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) will compete in the games.

Nine disciplines in the men’s and five in the women’s have been finalised besides demonstration sports.

He said the SOA has submitted a budget of Rs 20 million to the Sindh government for staging the event in a befitting way.

He informed that athletes belonging to the four provinces, Islamabad, Fata and Gilgit-Baltistan will be provided boarding and lodging in different hotels of the city.

The meeting also discussed various administrative arrangements pertaining to the games.

The SOA chief has also nominated coordinator to the Sindh chief minister for enquiries and implementation Haji Muzaffar Ali Shujra as chairman of the organising committee.

He added that preparations for the 17th Sindh Games have also been finalised and it will be held in Benazirabad in December in collaboration with Sindh government.

Disciplines:

Men: aquatics, basketball, body building, handball, kabaddi, rowing, sailing, volleyball, wrestling.

Women: Aquatics, basketball, handball, sailing, volleyball.

Demonstration:

Men: Archery, kurash, sepak takraw, malakhra.

Women: Archery, sepak takraw.— Sports Correspondent

Junior hockey team camp from today

ISLAMABAD: The new Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) administration on Thursday announced 63 probables for the Johor Junior Invitational Hockey Tournament which will be held in Malaysia from Oct 11-18.

The probables have been directed to report to newly-appointed head coach Olympian Tahir Zaman at the training camp which begins from Friday here at the Naseer Bunda Hockey Stadium.

Probables:

Goalkeepers: Munib-ur-Rehman (Railways), Talal Khalid (Wapda), Adeel Rao (Punjab), Hafiz Ali Umair (Pak Boards), Ali Raza (NBP), Ali Haider (PIA), Sheraz (NBP), Usman Ghani (Bahawalpur), Usman Malik (NBP).

Full-backs: Mubashir Ali (NBP), Abid Bhatti (NBP), Shah Faisal (Punjab), M. Ahad (Wapda), Hassan Mohammad Anwar (Punjab), Atif Mushtaq (PIA), Ali Raza (Punjab), Aaqib (PIA).

Halves: Sikandar Mustafa (NBP), Mohammad Junaid Kamal (NBP), Abu Bakar (PIA), Ghazanfar Ali (Wapda), Waseem Abbas (Wapda), Mohammad Qasim (WAPDA), Mohammad Aasim (Punjab), Ali Haider Raza (Lahore), Mohammad Ali (SSGC), Faizan Jonti (NBP), Tanzeem-ul-Hassan (PIA), Mohammad Faisal Qadir (NBP), Ammad Shakeel Butt (NBP), Mohammad Usman (Punjab) & Javaid Riaz (Railways).

Forwards: Mohammad Azfar Yaqoob (PIA), Nohaiz Zahid Malik (PIA), Shan Irshad (NBP), Samiullah (KP), Ali Raza (NBP), Mohsin Sabir (Punjab), Atif (Punjab), Bilal Mehmood (Wapda), Mohammad Naveed (Wapda), Sarhan (Customs), Asfand (Balochistan), Aamir (PIA), Ilyas (PIA), Mohammad Atiq (NBP), Umar Hamdi (Wapda), Junaid Manzoor (Wapda), Rana Sohail (PIA), Mohammad Shoaib (Punjab), M. Rehman (Punjab), Taimoor (NBP), Mohammad Umair (Wapda), Mohammad Dilber (NBP), Hafiz Rizwan Ali (SSGC), Nadeem (SSGC), Mohammad Irfan (Wapda), Adnan Anwar (Wapda), Bilal Qadir (NBP), Sohail Anjum (Wapda), Ayub Ali (NBP), Awais-ur-Rehman (PIA).—Sports Reporter

Karachi girls netball from 15th

KARACHI: The Sindh Netball Association will organise the Karachi Girls Netball Championship 2015 at the PSB Coaching Centre from Sept 15-17 in collaboration with the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) and Pakistan Netball Federation (PNF). The age limit for this championship is under-16.

Winninig teams and outstanding players will be awarded trophies, certificates, medals and other prizes by the organisers.

Interested girls and netball teams may send their entries at paknetball@gmail.com or at phone number 021-35643906. The last date for submission of entries is Sept 11.

The SNA will also finalise the girls after the event for national junior netball training camp which will be set up for preparation of the 2015 Asian Youth Girls Netball Championship to be held in Hong Kong in December.—Agencies

Swimming coach Hamid injured

KARACHI: Experienced swimming coach Hamid Ali, popularly known as Batu Uncle, was critically injured in a road accident on Moulvi Tamizuddin Road this week. He suffered head injuries and is admitted in the special care unit of Aga Khan Hospital.

Hamid has served as coach with the Sindh Swimming Association and has trained many Pakistani swimmers who brought laurels for the country over the past decades and that include swimmers of international repute.

Family and friends have requested all well-wishers to pray for his early recovery.—Agencies

Girls throwball event from 8th

KARACHI: The Sindh Throwball Association will organise the 6th Culligan Girls Senior & Junior Throwball Tournament 2015 here at The City School DK Campus from Sept 8-12 in collaboration with the Pakistan Throwball Federation and TCS DK Campus Karachi.

As many as thirty-eight throwball teams from schools, colleges and universities will be participating in the tournament.

Published in Dawn, September 4th, 2015

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