KARACHI: The Sindh Tennis Association has issued its half yearly ranking of players from Jan–June 2017 on the basis of Sindh Ranking Tournaments played during this period.

Both men and women’s top positions are taken over by new players due to their outstanding performances in preceding six months. Aqeel Shabbir of NPT& SC has become Sindh number one in men’s singles event, leaving behind former number one Ibrahim Iltifat with 70 accumulated ranking points. Ibrahim now holds second position with 55 points.

In the ladies singles, Hania Naveed who was Sindh number one for more than three years has now been toppled by Sindh Games gold medalist Urooj Iltifat who earned 50 accumulated points. Apsra Sheeraz of bBath Island Club is at second position with 40 points.

Top four positions in each category with accumulated ranking points are as follows.

Mens Singles. 1. Aqeel Shabbir 70 pts, 2. Ibrahim Iltifat 55 pts. 3. Farhan Altaf 45 pts. 4, Muhammad Raza Sawani 40 pts

Ladies Singles. 1. Urooj Iltifat 50 pts, 2. Apsra Sheeraz 40 pts, 3. Vareesha Khan 35 pts, 4. Saadia Nizamani (Hyd) 30 pts

Juniors U-17 Singles. 1. Sahibzada Muhammad Ali , PIA , 40 pts, 2. Nauman Aftab,& Noor e Mustafa with 30 pts each 3. Parbat Kumar & Ebad Sarwar 3rd with 25 pts each. 4. Mazhar Hayat, Abdul Samad Arrejo, Rayyan Jawwad, & Bilal Imran at 4thposition with 20 pts each.

Under-15 Singles. 1. Rayyan Jawwad 40 pts, 2. Hasheesh Kumar 35 pts. 3. Abdul Samad Areejo 30 pts. And 4.Taha Aman 20 pts

Under-13 Singles. 1. Yahya Ehtisham 70 pts, 2. Mahatir Muhammad and M. Farooq Atiq 40 pts each, 3, Yousuf Haleem 25 pts, 4, Ghufran Faiz 10 pts.

Under-11 Singles. 1, Mahatir Muhammad 55 pts. 2. Hasan Jamal 45 pts, 3. Abdullah Imran 40 pts, 4. Varesha Khan & Yousuf Haleem 30 pts each.

Under-9 Singles. Zain Ehtisham 80 pts. 2. Hasan Jamal 35 pts, 3. Eshmal Khan 25 pts. 4. Durud Das 20 pts.

Published in Dawn, July 6th, 2017