LAHORE   -  Pakistan national champion Aqeel Khan beat Hamid Israr in the opening match of 6th Hassan Tariq Rahim National Ranking Tennis Championship that was inaugurated here at Lahore Gymkhana hard courts on Monday. 

Aqeel achieved a straight-set win over Hamid Israr in the men’s singles. In other men’s singles first round matches, Barkat Ullah beat Shakir Ullah 6-3, 6-0, M Abid beat Sikandar Hayat 6-1, 6-2, Imran Bhatti beat Faizan Fayyaz 6-2, 6-1, Shehzad Khan beat Bilal Asim 6-0, 6-1, M Shoaib beat Israr Gul 6-0, 6-0, Khalil beat Ibrahim Omar 6-0, 6-0 and Parbhat Kumar beat Abdul Hanan Khan 6-3, 4-1 (rtd). In U-18 first round, Hasheesh Kumar got w/o against Ahmad Nawaz, Yahya Ahtesham beat Arman Kamran 6-2, 6-4, Mahatir Muhammad beat Uzair Khan 6-4, 2-6, 6-3, Semi Zeb Khan beat Hamza Jawad 6-1, 6-0, Bakir Ali beat Ali Jawad 6-0, 6-0, Ghazi Ahmad beat Asad Zaman 6-3, 6-3. 

The inauguration of the tournament was performed by former Governor Punjab Khawaja Ahmad Tariq Rahim in a ceremony as he cut the ribbon to kick start the event. The chief guest said when Hassan Tariq passed away, his friends and tennis players suggested that a tournament should be organized after his name. 

“It has been six years now, we are organizing this ranking tournament. It has now become the number one event of Pakistan tennis circuit. The biggest thing of this event is its prize money that has been kept very high. Both men’s and women prize money is equal. We have provided good facilities to the players to make sure the event is organized in a good manner every year.”