LAHORE-Punjab Minister for Sports and Youth Affairs Rai Taimoor Khan Bhatti on Wednesday inaugurated the Sports Board Punjab (SBP) Open Tennis Championship 2021 during a colourful opening ceremony held here at the Punjab Tennis Academy, Bagh-e-Jinnah.
Director General Sports Punjab Adnan Arshad Aulakh, President Punjab Olympics Association (PbOA) Amir Jan, Director Sports Hafeez Bhatti, former Davis Cup captain Rashid Malik (Tamgha-e-Imtiaz), who is also tournament director, and a large number of young male and female players and their families were also present on this occasion.
Speaking on the occasion, Rai Taimoor Khan Bhatti said: “It’s our second tennis championship during the last couple of months. We already organized a tennis championship for junior male and female players at Nishtar Park Sports Complex State of the Art Tennis Stadium. He said it is a major tennis event in which around 200 male and female tennis players are featuring. “The game of tennis is growing rapidly among the young generation and Sports Board Punjab, in line with the vision of Prime Minister Imran Khan, is extending every kind of assistance for the holding of tennis events in the province. Through our effective efforts, we will produce more top-class tennis players like Aisamul Haq,” he asserted.
The Punjab Sports Minister also announced a cash award of Rs one lakh for tennis academy on this occasion. To a query, he said: “We are organizing back-to-back sports events to avail this period fully because the fatal Covid-19 has affected several of our sports events during the last one year. “The SBP’s Junior Initiative Tennis Academy is also working quite effectively at Nishtar Park Sports Complex Tennis Stadium where expert coaches are imparting training to 4 to 12 years old boys and girls under the supervision of renowned coach Rashid Malik.”
A total of 19 matches were played on the second day (Thursday) of the mega event. In the men’s singles pre-quarterfinals, Ahmad Kamil beat Aakif Hussain 8-1, Hasheesh Kumar beat Muhammad Yousaf 8-1, Abdul Hanan Khan beat Hammad Ahmad 8-2, Hassan Riaz beat Ahtesham Arif 8-5, Mahatir Muhammad beat Zaryab Pirzada 8-1 and Shaeel Durab beat Faizan Fayyaz 9-7. In U-18 pre-quarterfinals, Faizan Fayyaz beat Asad Akram 6-1, Shaeel Durab beat Muneeb Majeed 6-1, Mahatir Muhammad beat Moavia Butt 6-0, Ahtesham Arif beat Shehryar Anees 8-6, Abdul Hanan Khan beat Zaeem Ghafoor 6-1, Nalain Abbas beat Arman Kamran 8-3 and Hasheesh Kumar beat Ghazi Ahmad 8-1.
In U-14 first round, Harris Bajwa beat Talha Tarar 6-2, Haroon Arshad beat Xeerak Mustafa 6-1, Omer Jawad beat Amna Ali Qayyum 6-3, Aized Khalil beat Muneeb Akram 6-2 and Ameer Mazari beat Abdul Ahad 6-0. The quarterfinals of different categories will be played today (Thursday) here at the Punjab Tennis Academy Bagh-e-Jinnah while the finals will be played on Saturday (January 30).