LAHORE - Bilal Asim and Asad Zaman won the U-18 and U-14 singles titles in the Sapphire Punjab Junior Tennis Championship 2021 that concluded here at Punjab Tennis Academy, Bagh-e-Jinnah on Friday.
The boys U-18 final proved to be a closely-contested encounter, where both Bilal Asim and Asad Zaman fought very well but Bilal finished the title match in great style winning the final 7-5, 6-0. The first set saw both the players matching fire-with-fire till it was 5-all. Bilal then put tremendous pressure on his young opponent and won the first set 7-5. Bilal began the second set on high note and never allowed Asad to earn a single point and took it 6-0, thus grabbed the U-18 title.
Asad Zaman (McDonald’s) played superb tennis against Ahtesham Humayun and outpaced him 7-6, 6-3 to claim the boys U-14 title. The boys U-14 doubles title was won by the pair of Ahtesham Humayun and Shehryar Anees, who outlasted the duo of Asad Zaman and Zohaib Afzal Malik 8-3. The boys U-18 doubles title was clinched by the pair of Abdul Hanan Khan and Ahtesham Arif, who defeated the duo of Faizan Fayyaz and Bilal Asim with a narrow margin of 9-7.
Zahra Suleman of DHA SSG displayed quality tennis techniques and skills to overpower spirited Ashtafila Arif with a score of 6-2, 6-0 and lifted the girls U-18 singles trophy. In the boys/girls U-12 final, Omer Jawad was in sublime form and outclassed Ismail Aftab 8-0 to claim the title. The boys/girls U-10 trophy was won by Abdur Rehman (AAA Associates) who defeated her younger sister Hajra Sohail with a margin of 8-2.
In the boys/girls U-8, Ahsan Bari played superb tennis and secured gold medal while Zainah won silver and Eman Manoo bronze medal. The boys/girls U-6 gold medal was clinched by Daniyal Afzal Malik, while Eman Manoo won silver and Daniyal bronze medal.
Sapphire Director Hassan Abdullah graced the occasion as chief guest and he, along with PLTA Secretary Rashid Malik, distributed prized and shields among the winners. Malik also thanked Shayyan Abdullah and Hassan Abdullah of Sapphire for sponsoring this event and hoped that they will continue to support this beautiful game.