Sports Bulletin Report
LAHORE: Haider Ali Rizwan will face Bilal Asim in the final of the Kamran Steel ATF Under-16 Asian Tennis Tour 2022 (Leg-1) here at Sports Board Punjab Tennis Academy Nishtar Park Sports Complex.
On Thursday, the semifinals of the boys U-16 were decided. In the first semifinal, Haider Ali Rizwan of LGS Paragon overwhelmed Sheheryar Anees by 6-4, 6-1. Haider faced tough resistance from his opponent in the first set but after leveling the score at 4-all, he settled down and won the next two points in a row to win it 6-4. He dominated the second set right from the word go and comfortably took it by 6-1 to book berth in the final. Rising star Bilal Asim was another player, who set the final clash against Haider, after defeating spirited Hussnain Ali Rizwan by 7-6, 6-0.
In the U-16 position matches, Asad Zaman (Ali Embroidery Mills) had to struggle hard to edge out talented Sameer Zaman by 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 while Muhammad Salaar also faced tough resistance from M Ibraheem Ashraf before winning the crucial match by 6-4, 3-6, 6-1. Nabeel Qayum did well against M Sohaan Noor and outpaced him by 6-1, 7-5 while Abdullah Pirzada outsmarted Taimoor Ansari by 6-2, 6-3.
In the boys U-16 doubles semifinals, Bilal Asim and Ahtesham Humayun made their presence felt by outlasting the pair of Sameer Zaman and Amir Mazari 6-1, 6-1. Bilal/Ahtesham were in sublime form and started well against their opponents, thus comfortably winning the first set 6-1 and the second with the same score of 6-1 to earn a place in the final. The second finalist pair was of Hussnain Ali Rizwan and Haider Ali Rizwan, who proved too hot for Ashraf and Nabeel Qayum and trounced them by a huge margin of 6-0, 6-0.
In the Kamran Steel Punjab Junior Tennis Championship 2022, Abdullah Pirzada and Taimoor Ansari qualified for the boys/girls U-14 semifinals. Abdullah Pirzada played well against Nabeel Qayum and thumped him by 6-2 while Taimoor Ansari had to struggle hard to brush aside Abdur Rehman (SICAS) by 7-5. In the boys/girls U-12 semifinals, Aalay Husnain beat Abdur Rehman 6-4 and SICAS’ brilliant student Hajra Suhail (AAA Associates) beat Bismel Zia 6-2. In the boys/girls U-10 quarterfinal, Hajra Suhail beat Aliyan 6-0 and Muaz Shahbaz beat Aahil Najoom 6-0.
