LAHORE-OUBall boy Asad Zaman stunned top seed Bilal Asim in the Rafum Punjab Junior Tennis Championship 2020 U-14 boys semifinal played here at PLTA courts on Friday.
Asad, a ball boy who is being trained by former Davis Cup captain and renowned coach Rashid Malik (Tamgha-e-Imtiaz), played superb tennis against top seed Bilal Asim and won the epic semifinal after a tough battle by 4-0, 1-4, 10-6. The crowd present on the occasion was fully cheering both the players and especially the ball boy, and when he won his epic match, he was highly applauded by the crowd and his coaches Rashid Malik and Fahim Siddiqui. In the second semifinal of the same category, Ahtesham Humayun outlasted spirited Hussnain Ali Rizwan 4-1, 4-1.
The boys U-18 semifinal between Farman Shakeel and Abdul Hanan Khan proved to be a clash of titans, where both the players displayed high-quality tennis skills and matched fire-with-fire but it was Farman, who was first 0-1 down, but made a tremendous comeback to win the next two sets in great style, thus winning the encounter 2-6, 6-4, 10-6. The second semifinal was won by Faizan Fayyaz, who overpowered Hamza Jawad 6-2, 6-3.
In girls U-18 semifinals, Shimza Durab conceded just two points to win the encounter against Labika Durab 8-2 while Haniya Minhas proved too hot for Zunaisha and comfortably won the match 8-0. In boys/girls U-10 semifinals, Zohaib Afzal Malik (LGS Phase 5 DHA) excelled against Razik Sultan and won the match 8-2 while in boys/girls U-12 semifinals, Hamza Ali Rizwan outshone Ameer Mazari 8-4 and Haniya Minhas faced some resistance from spirited Zohaib Afzal Malik before winning the encounter 8-4. The finals of all the categories will be played today (Saturday) here at 3:00 pm, while Rafum Group CEO Zahid Hussain will be chief guest at the prize distribution ceremony.