LAHORE : Ahmad Kamil and Haniya Minhas lifted the men’s and ladies’ singles titles in the Sports Board Punjab (SBP) Open Tennis Championship 2021 after beating their respective rivals in the finals played here at the PLTA Courts on Saturday. Sports Board Punjab Vice Chairman Rao Zahid Qayyum graced the finals as chief guest and distributed medals, cash prizes and certificates among the position holders at the prize distribution ceremony. Director Sports Hafeez Bhatti, Director Tournament Rashid Malik (Tamgha-e-Imtiaz) and a large number of young tennis players and their families were also present on this occasion.
In the men’s singles final, Ahmad Kamil played tremendous tennis against Imran Bhatti and defeated him by 6-2, 4-6, 10-6 after a tough fight. Ahmad though comfortably won the first set, but Imran made a good comeback to win the second set 6-4 while Ahmad held his nerves to beat spirited Imran in the super tie break to win the title. In the ladies’ singles final, Haniya Minhas once again showed her class against promising Ashtafila Arif and outclassed her by 6-0, 6-0 to clinch the title. Haniya doubled his titles tally, when she played well against Karachi’s Natalia Zaman and outpaced her by 6-0, 6-1 in the girls U-18 final. The final of seniors 35 plus doubles proved to be an enthralling encounter, where the pair of Talha Waheed (Gas & Oil Pakistan Ltd) and Aashir Ali Khan played well against the duo of Fayyaz Khan and Arif Feroz and after a tough fight, Talha/Aashir succeeded in beating their rivals with a score of 6-0, 4-6, 7-6. In the U-18 boys’ final, Hasheesh Kumar emerged triumphant against Faizan Fayyaz with a score of 6-2, 6-2. The boys U-18 doubles title was lifted by Mahatir Muhammad/Ahtesham Arif, who routed Asad Zaman/Hasheesh Kumar 8-5. The U-14 title was won by Asad Zaman, who defeated Shehryar Anees 6-4, 6-4 in the final. Sensational Ameer Mazari outlasted Omer Jawad 8-5 to claim the U-12 title while spirited Abdur Rehman outclassed young Fajar Fayyaz 8-0 to lift the U-10 title.
In U-6 category, Iman Monnoo (LGS Defense) won the gold medal, Ehsan Bari silver medal and Yahya Tariq bronze medal. In U-8 category, Salman Pirzada won gold medal, Wajeeh Pirzada silver and Nadine Saigol bronze medal. Talking to media on this occasion, SBP Vice Chairman Rao Zahid Qayyum said the Sports Board Punjab would continue to extend full cooperation for the promotion of tennis in the province. “This is an ideal tournament for young players to learn the basics of the game and excel at higher level.” Lauding the services of Director Tournament and former Davis Cup captain Rashid Malik, the chief guest said: “Rashid Malik is rendering great services for the promotion of tennis especially at grassroots level and I am hopeful that with his dedication and passion, Malik will continue to hunt budding talent and providing future tennis stars to the country.”
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