LAHORE - Rizwan brothers – Hussnain Ali Rizwan and Haider Ali Rizwan – Abubakar Talha and Ahtesham Humayun qualified for the semifinals of All Pakistan National Invitational Tennis Tournament here at DeSOM Club on Wednesday.
In the boys U-16 quarterfinals, Hussnain Ali Rizwan routed Hamza Roman 6-0, 6-4 while Haider Ali Rizwan defeated Hamza Ali Rizwan 6-2, 6-3. In other quarterfinals, Abubakar Talha (F.G School Lahore Cantt) beat M Salaar 6-4, 6-4 while Ahtesham Humayun (Cresent) thrashed Talha Khan 6-1, 6-1.
It is worth mentioning here that Hussnain Ali Rizwan, who is a former Asian U-14 No 2 ranked player and the only Pakistani, selected in the ITF/ATF Grand Slam Player Development Program to Europe, where he had learnt the modern techniques from top ITF coaches alongside the world’s high ranked players. Now his fellow players from other nations have been progressing well in the Juniors ITF and ATF rankings due to their regular participation in the junior international events but due to lack of high-level sponsorship (especially from Bard Foundation, which is generously supporting top national tennis players), such a great talent is being wasted and this is the reason why, there is not a single player in Grand Slams except Aisam Qureshi.
Same is the case with his elder brother, Haider Ali Rizwan, who was Asian U-16 ranked 1, and was doing well at ATF level, but he too couldn’t maintain his top rankings due to less participation in the international events and financial constraints were the major hurdles that are depriving such a talent from doing well for Pakistan in Junior ITF and ATF events.
Meanwhile in the men’s singles quarterfinals, Pakistan No 1 player Aqeel Khan beat talented Abdullah Adnan 6-3, 6-0 while Muhammad Shoaib Khan beat Ahmad Nael Qureshi 5-7, 6-0, 6-2, Mudassar Murtaza beat Sami Zeb Khan 6-1, 7-6 and Yousaf Khalil beat Heera Ashiq 7-5, 7-5.
