Khalid, Nauman, Hania win titles in open tennis

KARACHI: In a fantastic final, Khalid Ali Nazar overcame stiff resistance from Asad Khan to win the mens singles title with scores being 6-4,6-7 (7) 10-8 in the 6th Essa Lab Open National Juniors and Senior Tennis Championship 2017 which concluded here at the Karachi Gymkhana on Saturday.

Both Khalid and Asad displayed high class tennis in front of a good crowd but Khalid proved too good in the end to outpoint his rival and lift the title.

The under-18 title was won by in-form Nauman Aftab who cruised past Amin Shafi 6-3, 6-3 while under-14 title was won by Rayyan Jawad who got the better of Yahya Ehtesham 6-4,6-2.

In the ladies singles final, the prolific Hania Naved crushed Urooj Iltifat by playing superior tennis. In the under-18 doubles final, Nauman Aftab and Amin Shafi duo beat Ameer Hamza and Noor Mustafa pair 2-6,6-0,6-1.

Colonel Tahir of Novatex and Gatron was the chief guest while SSP Qamar Rizvi was the guest of honour at the closing ceremony.

Dr Farhan Essa, in his speech said that they will continue to support tennis in Karachi.

Khalid Rahmani also spoke on the occasion and said that STA will concentrate on Juniors Tennis initiative (JTI) activities in Sindh and has targeted to give opportunities to at least 5000 new players during calendar year 2017.

Total prize money of Rs 100,000 was distributed among the winners. STA president Khawaja Saeed Hai, Erum Bukhair, Gulzar Feroze and Sarwar Hussain were also present on the occasion.

Results:

Under-14 final: Rayyan Jawad bt Yahya Ehtesham 6-4, 6-2.

Under-18 final: Nauman Aftab bt Amin Shafi 6-3, 6-3.

Under-18 doubles final: Nauman Aftab and Amin Shafi bt Ameer Hamzi and Noor Mustafa 2-6, 6-0, 6-1.

Men’s singles final Khalid Ali Nazar bt Asad Khan 6-4, 6-7 (7-9), 10-8.

Ladies singles final Hania Naved bt Urooj Iltafat 8-2.

Soft tennis final: Robin Das bt Asad Khan 5-2.—Agencies

38 players shortlisted for Asia Cup camp

LAHORE: After two-day trials at Rawalpindi’s Army Hockey Stadium, 38 players have been shortlisted for the next phase of national camp set up to select a strong squad for this year’s Asia Cup.

The Asia Cup is scheduled to be held in Bangladesh in October this year.

The next phase of the training camp will be held at Karachi’s Abdul Sattar Edhi Hockey Stadium from Aug 16.

Probables:

Goalkeepers: Mazhar Abbas, Amjad Ali, Waleed Akhtar, Hafiz Ali Umair.

Full-backs: Mohammad Irfan, Aleem Bilal, Atif Mushtaq, Hassan Anwar, Mubashar Ali, Syed Kashif Shah.

Half-backs: Ammad Shakeel Butt, Mohammad Rizwan Jr, Saleem Nazim, Abu Bakr Mahmood, Faisal Qadir, Saran bin Qamar, Rashid Mahmood, Tasawar Abbas, Ali Hassan Faraz, Junaid Kamal.

Forwards: Shan Irshad, Mohammad Irfan Jr, Arsalan Qadir, Umar Bhutta, Azfar Yaqoob, Aamir Ali, Abdul Haseem Khan, Mohammad Dilber, Karim Khan, Mohammad Rizwan Sr, Rizwan Ali, Mohammad Naveed, Atiq Arshad, Ejaz Ahmed, Ali Shan, Bilal Qadir, Khizar Akhtar, Qamar Bukhari.—Sports Reporter

Seeds sail into squash semis

LAHORE: All seeded players qualified for the semi-finals in both the men and women’s categories as seven matches were decided in the first SNGPL National Jashan-e-Azadi Squash Championships at the Punjab Squash Complex here on Saturday.

In the men’s singles, top seed Israr Ahmad of SNGPL beat PIA’s Ahsan Ayaz 5-11, 11-8, 11-9, 11-9 in a match lasting 50 minutes.

Tayyab Aslam of ZTBL toppled Ammad Fareed SNGPL’s 11-8, 7-11, 11-7, 11-5 in 48 minutes.

Asim of SNGPL also staged a comeback against ZTBL’s Waqar Mehboob to win 7-11, 11-5, 11-5, 11-9 in 43 minutes.

In the women’s category Maria Toor of Wapda stormed into the semi-finals by thrashing her team-mate Riffat Khan 12-10, 11-7, 11-3 in just 23 minutes.

Sadia Gul of SNGPL also made short work of ZTBL’s Rushna Mehboob 11-7, 11-9, 11-7. Faiza Zafar of Sindh upset Wapda’s Saima Shaukat (WAPDA) 8-11, 12-10, 11-4, 11-6 in 34 minutes, while. Zoya Khalid of ZTBL outclassed SNGPL’s Aiman Shahbaz 11-4, 11-5, 11-4.—Sports Reporter

Islahuddin off to Amsterdam for IMHA moot

KARACHI: Former celebrity Olympian Islahuddin Siddiqui is due to fly to Amsterdam in the wee hours of Sunday to attend meeting of the International Master’s Hockey Association (IMHA) which takes place in the Dutch city of Tilburg on Monday.

Islahuddin, who led Pakistan to victory at the Buenos Aires World Cup, is member of the IMHA Executive Board since last three years and continental representative for Asia.

The meeting, among other matters, will discuss matters pertaining to the men’s veterans World Cup which is slated at Terrasa, Spain, in July 2018.—Sports Correspondent

Pakistan Blues win

LAHORE: Pakistan Blues edged out Pakistan Greens 3-2 on penalty-shootout in a hockey match played as part of national Independence Day celebrations at the National Hockey Stadium here on Saturday.

Faizan Ali gave the Blues lead after which Abid Bhatti scored equaliser for the Greens. The 1-1 scoreline remained intact till the final whistle as the match went into the shootout phase.

In the shootout, the Blues scored two while the Greens netted only one goal.

The match was organised by Sports Board Punjab and provincial Sports Minister Jahangir Khanzada distributed the prizes.

Published in Dawn, August 13th, 2017