Huzaifa through, Hayat out in ITF Juniors

ISLAMABAD: Top seed Huzaifa Abdul Rehman started off his campaign at the Syed Tajammul Abbas ITF Pakistan World Junior Ranking Tennis Championship with a 6-0, 6-3 win against qualifier Luca Schurdevin of France here at the PTF Complex on Tuesday.

On the opening day which featured 27 matches in the boys’ and girls’ singles and doubles categories, Pakistan’s Saqib Hayat was the only seeded player who failed to go through to the next round.

Hayat was brought down by Thailand’s Nathan Jattavapornvanit after a thrilling three-set encounter. Hayat started off strong winning the first set by breaking the third, fifth and seventh games.

The quality of the contest continued in the second set which was eventually won by Jattavapornvanit. The Thai started off aggressively in the third set to ensure his victory.

Results (first round):

Boys singles: Shoaib Khan (PAK) bt Talal Abdullah (KUW) 6-4, 6-3; Tin Tran (VIE) bt Talha Chaudry (PAK) 6-0, 6-0; Luca Emanuel Knese (GER) bt Mohammad Hadin (PAK) 6-0, 6-0; Ali Alshati (KUW) bt Sameer Ahmad bt M.Saeed Chaudary (PAK) 6-1, 6-0; Huzaifa Abdul Rehman (PAK) bt Lucas Schurdevin (FRA) 6-0, 6-3; Togan Makzume (TUR) bt Ahmar Saeed (PAK) 6-1, 6-0; Abdullah Adnan (PAK) bt Cameron Austin Chang (USA) 6-3, 6-4; Bader Alabdullah (KUW) bt Ahmed Kamil (PAK) 6-3, 6-3; Hai Truong Vo (VIE) bt Abdullah Abdullah (PAK) 6-1, 6-3; Zalan Khan (PAK) bt Kavisha Ratnayake (SRI) 7-5, 6-3; Essa Qabazard (KUW) bt Waleem Anwar (PAK) 6-3, 6-1; Dogeon PARK (KOR) bt Subhan Bin Salik (PAK) 6-0, 6-2; Berk Ulas Enc (TUR) bt Soo Hyun KANG (KOR) 6-1, 6-1; Taentawan Taddeo Majoli Maggioli (THA) bt Sami Zeb (PAK) 6-1, 6-1; Nathan Jattavapornvanit (THA) bt Saqib Hayat (PAK) 1-6, 6-4, 6-3; Muhammad Nauman Aftab (PAK) bt Tamerlan Kalkenov (KAZ) 7-6(3), 6-1.

Girls singles: Chloe Chong Zhi Jing (MAS) bt Sajid Sheeza (PAK) 6-0, 6-0; Soo Ha Jang (KOR) bt Erica Kanna Hagi (HKG) 3-6, 6-2, 6-4; Ji Hyun Kang (KOR) bt Emma Jouy (CAL) 7-5, 2-6, 6-4.

Boys doubles: Berk Ulas Enc (TUR)/Togan Makzume (TUR) bt Zalan Khan (PAK)/Lucas Schurdevin (FRA) 6-2, 6-3; Ali Alshati (KUW)/Essa Qabazrd (KUW) bt Lucas Emanuel Knese (GER)/Kavish Ratanauake (SRI) 6-2, 6-1; Cameron Austin Chang (USA)/Dogeon Park (KOR) bt Waleed Anwar (PAK)/Mohamamd Hadin (PAK) 6-0, 6-0; Tin Tran (VIE)/Hai Troung Vo (VIE) bt Sami Zeb Khan (PAK)/Subhan Bin Salik (PAK) 6-0, 6-3.—Sports Reporter

Huzaifa shines in inter-school squash

KARACHI: International Huzaifa Ibrahim look destined to win honours in the boys under-15 category of the PAF Base Malir Inter-school squash tournament which commenced at officers mess court the other day.

Huzaifa had an excellent start routing Umer Anees straight to storm in the semi-final. Ammar Ali, Qazi Umer and Abdullah Azhar also returned victorious to complete the semis line-up.

As many as 48 up and coming players belonging to 20 educational institutions are competing in the event which is being held under the auspices of Fazaia Inter-college Malir.

The competition is held in Under-11, under-13 and under-15.

Results:

Boys U-11: M. Zaman (St. Michael School) bt Ali Sher (Fazaia Malir) 3-0; Hassan (Habib Public School) bt Subhan (Fazaia Malir) 3-2; Abdul Ahad (St. Michael School) bt Salar (Karachi Grammar School) 3-0; Adnan Zaman (St. Michael School) bt Ayyan (The City School) 3-0.

Boys U-13: Basit Khan (Fazaia Faisal) bt Shayan Abbasi (Generation School) 3-2; Ismail (Generation School) bt Rehman (Beacon House School) 3-0; Labeeb Butt (Fazaia Malir ) bt Umer Khan (Beacon House) 3-0; Ismail (Delson School) bt Ali Shah (Falcon House School) 3-1.

Boys U-15: Ammar Ali (Fazaia Malir) bt Ibrahim (Fazaia Faisal) 3-0; Huzaifa Ibrahim (DHA School) bt Umer Anees (Happy Palace School) 3-0; Qazi Umer (Fazaia Malir) bt Affan Sheikh (The City School) 3-2; Abdullah Azhar (St. John’s) bt Shayan Ali (Beacon House School) 3-1.—Sports Reporter

National Jr Squash main round starts today

PESHAWAR: Shoaib Afzal, Yaseen Khattak, Abdullah Khan and Mubashir reached the main round of the National Junior Boys and Girls Squash Championship after winning their respective matches in the final qualifying round here at the PAF Hashim Khan Squash Complex on Tuesday.

Shoaib Afzal of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa recorded a 11-8, 8-11, 11-5, 11-3 victory against Punjab’s Ali Uddin.

In other qualifying matches, PAF’s Yaseen defeated Afnan Mudassir of Punjab 11-8, 11-9, 11-8;

Abdullah of KP beat Mohammad Asher Butt of Punjab 11-9, 13-11, 17-15; Mubashir of Punjab overcame PAF’s Hassan Zahid 11-7, 11-7, 12-10.

Hamza Khan, who recently won silver medal in the US Junior and gold medal in the Asian Team Championship, is the top seed. He is followed by second and third seeds Mohammad Hammad and Huzaifa Zahif. Usman Nadeem is the fourth seed.

The main round of the event starts on Wednesday.—Bureau Report

Fakhar elected to Asian baseball body

LAHORE: Pakistan Federation Baseball president Syed Fakhar Ali Shah has been elected as member at large of Baseball Federation of Asia, according to a press release issue by the federation here on Tuesday.

Fakhar was elected by the general congress of the Asian body, which was held in Taiwan on Tuesday.

Fakhar thanked the congress members for electing him for the said post.

He also resigned from the post of executive director West Asia and nominated Fazil Hussain, president of the Sri Lankan Baseball Association, for the post.—Sports Reporter

SSB basketball from Friday

KARACHI: The SSB Trophy Inter-collegiate basketball tournament for boys and girls will be held in Karachi and Tando Jam, respectively.

The boys championship will be played on Feb 22-23 at the Agriculture University, Tando Jam while the girls event will be staged at Arambagh court and the National Training and Coaching Centre in Karachi on Feb 25-26.

KBBA president Ghulam Mohammad has appointed director sports Tando Jam University Anwar Hussain Khanzada and technical official Zaeema Khatoon as organising secretaries for boys and girls events, respectively.—Agencies

Tennis academy initiative lauded

ISLAMABAD: Chairperson Subh-e-Nau Shahida Kausar Farooq has welcomed Pakistan Tennis Federation’s (PTF) National Tennis Academy initiative.

In a statement on Tuesday, Mrs. Farooq said that it was a welcome step of PTF to establish national tennis academy in Islamabad to train the stars of future under a high performance trainer from abroad.

Mrs. Farooq said that there should also be a dedicated academy for women players to get themselves trained and prepare for competitive tennis.

She said that PTF’s current management has done impressive work under the leadership of Senator Salim Saifullah and that she hopes that this positive change will bring new talent to national circuit.

Published in Dawn, February 20th, 2019