Sylvia clinches singles crown

Published October 20, 2002

ISLAMABAD, Oct 19: Indonesia’s Sylvia Lokollo, who had not played tennis for two years and picked up a racket just three weeks ago, Saturday emerged the women’s singles champion in the Federal Cup Tennis Championship.

She ruthlessly blew top seed Mariam Rahim off court 6-2, 6-2 in what was a similar treatment she meted out to defending champion Mehvish Chishtie only a day earlier.

Coached by former Davis Cup player and current Asian Veteran champion Hameedul Haq, Sylvia was not even sure of competing in the tournament. But on Saturday she earned the distinction of becoming the first foreign player to win the Federal Cup crown.

Aqeel Khan and Rashid Malik captured the men’s doubles title with an easy 6-1, 6-3 win over Nomi Qamar and Aurangzeb Khan.

The junior under-18 title went to Peshawar’s Shahid Afridi who did not have to sweat much in beating local boy Babar Ali Khan 6-3, 6-0 while Babar’s younger brother, Abid Ali took top honours in the under-12 competition. He knocked out Tabish Raza 4-2, 4-0.

The men’s singles final between Aqeel Khan and Asim Shafik is to be played Sunday.

Results:

Women’s singles final: Sylvia Lokollo bt Mariam Rahim 6-2, 6- 2.

Boys under-18 final: Shahid Afridi bt Babar Ali Khan 6-3, 6- 0.

Boys under-12 final: Abid Ali bt Tabish Raza 4-2, 4-0.

Men’s doubles final: Rashid Malik-Aqeel Khan bt Nomi Qamar- Aurangzeb Khan 6-1, 6-3.

Veterans 50 and above doubles semifinal: Iftikhar-Sher Khan bt Waqar Durrani-S. Khan 7-5, 6-4. Final: Tahawwar Ali-Pervez bt Sher Khan-Iftikhar Rashid 3-6, 6-3, 6-2.

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