LAHORE     -    Zohaib Afzal Malik and Haniya Minhas reached the U12 doubles final of the Rafum Punjab Tennis Championship 2019 after defeating their rivals in the semifinals here on Thursday at PLTA Courts. In U12 doubles semifinals, Zohaib Afzal Malik and Hania Minhas played superbly against their rival pair of Abubakar Khalil and Muhammad Munir and outlasted them with a score of 5-3, 4-1. In the first set, Zohaib-Haniya faced some resistance before winning it 5-3 but they fully dominated the second set, taking it 4-1 with utmost ease. In another semifinal of this category, the pair of Asad Zaman and Ehtasm Humayun taught tennis lesson to th pair of Ameer Mazari and Essa Bilal. The winning pair won the first set 4-0 without any trouble while in the second set, they conceded just two points to win it 4-2.  In U10 semifinals, Ameer Mazari proved too hot for Zohaib Afzal Malik and outclassed him 8-1 while in another semifinal of this category, Ismael played well against Essa Bilal and overcame him by 8-4 to set final date against Ameer Mazari. In U16 semifinals, Faizan Fayyaz overcame spirited Hassan Ali 6-4, 6-4 while Bilal Asim routed Hamza Jawad 6-2, 6-2 in the second semifinal. Earlier in U16 quarterfinals, Faizan Fayyaz thumped Shahzaib  Zahid 4-2, 4-0, Hassan Ali defeated Ehtasam Arif 5-3, 4-0, Bilal Asim beat Abulhanan Khan 4-3, 2-4, 10-8 and Hamza Jawad beat Zain Ch 8-1. In U14 quarterfinals, Bilal Asim thrashed Asad Zaman 8-1,  Hamza Jawad toppled Ali Jawad 8-3,  Shaheel Durrab beat Ehtasam Arif 8-5 and Shahzeb Zahid trounced Ehtasam Humion 8-1. All the finals of different categories will be played today (Friday) here at PLTA Courts.  PLTA Secretary and Tournament Director Rashid Malik (Tamgha-e-Imtiaz) said that some great matches were witnessed in this junior tournament and after tough fights, top contenders have qualified for the finals, which will surely prove to be challenging and enthralling ones.

 “Our position is clear and firm. Women have to be allowed into football stadiums in Iran,” said the FIFA president, who previously got assurances at a March 2018 meeting with Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani.

Iran briefly relaxed its rule last November when hundreds of women were selected to attend the Tehran stadium for the Asian Champions League final second leg game.