Renowned sports patron Shahida Perveen Kayani inaugurated the tournament in the presence of famous sports personalities and organizers of Karachi. Malik Imtiaz of Essa Laboratories, Master Asghar Baloch of SOA, KBBA President Ghulam Muhammad Khan, M Saleem Khamisani, M Arshad, Naima Bardo, M Akhlaq, Asghar Azeem, Naveed Ahmed, Farooq Khan of NBP, Zulfiqar Abbas Khan of UBL, Sher Khan, Usman Ghani and others were also present on the occasion.
On the first day of the tournament, two matches were decided. In the first match, Omega Basketball Club outlasted hosts Usman Basketball Club by 52-38. Shayan Qadri (18), Timur Zaheer (16) and Ahad Lodhi (12) excelled from the winning club while Hamza Khawaja (12), Mubashir Ahmed (10) and Faizan Sheikh (9) played well from the losing club.
In the second match, Street Ballers Basketball Club beat Aram Bagh Basketball Club by 31-30. Haider Tanani (10), Mustafa Noman (8) and Azhar Yaseen (8) were prominent ones from the winning side while the losing side contribution came from Hassan Ali (14), Ahsan Iqbal (6) and Saad Salahuddin (6). At the end of the match, Malik Imtiaz distributed gifts among the players on behalf of Prof Dr Farhan Essa, CEO of Essa Laboratories.
Addressing the inauguration ceremony, special guest Shahida Parveen Kayani paid homage to Prof Dr Farhan Essa saying the steps being taken by Essa Laboratories for the promotion of healthy activities especially sports along with service to humanity are commendable. Shahida Parveen thanked Dr Farhan Essa for sponsoring the basketball event for the sixth time in a row and hoped that they will continue to support the sports.
Shahida Parveen also appealed to Government of Pakistan and Government of Sindh to confer national honors on Dr Farhan Essa on the occasion of Independence Day of Pakistan for his services to humanity and sports, which was endorsed by all sports organizations and personalities present on the occasion. Tournament organizer Ghulam Muhammad Khan announced that after Eid-ul-Adha, Usman Basketball Club District Central would host a grand reception in honor of Dr. Farhan Essa.