Sports Bulletin

Sports Bulletin ReportISLAMABAD: Pakistan Under-14 tennis team will participate in the Asia/Oceania WJT Under-14 Final Qualifying Event, which will be rolled into action on March 25 in Kuching, Malaysia.According to an official of the Pakistan Tennis Federation (PTF), Abubakar Talha, Omar Jawad, and Mohammad Hamza Ali Rizwan will represent in the 5-day international juniors tennis fixture while Heera Ashiq will be the non-playing captain.

Sports Bulletin ReportISLAMABAD: A two-member Pakistan Wheelchair Tennis Team including Asif Gul Abbasi, and Fida Hussain reached Pattaya Thailand on March 13 to participate in the ITF (International Tennis Federation) Asia Oceania Wheelchair Qualifier Cup 2024.According to an official of the Pakistan Tennis Federation (PTF), Pakistan’s wheelchair tennis contingent comprising 2 players and 1 Non-playing captain including Asif Abbasi, FidaHussain and Mohammad Khalid Rehmani on Wednesday reached Thailand city Pattaya for an international fixture.Besides, Pakistan, China, South Korea, Malaysia, Australia, Thailand, Iraq, India, and Kazakhstan will take part in the competitions for the top honour. The official draw ceremony will take place today (Wednesday) and the matches will start tomorrow (Thursday).

Mohammad Shoaib overcomes veteran Aqeel Khan 2-1 in final, Sarah wins Ladies’ titleSports Bulletin ReportWah Cantt (Rawalpindi): The Pakistan No.1 tennis player, Mohammad Shoaib has won the title of the Chairman POF Board National Tennis Championship after beating veteran Aqeel Khan 2-1 in the final here at POF Tennis Complex on Saturday. The final score-line was 6-4, 4-6, and 6-4.Results (finals):Men’s Singles: Mohammad Shoaib beat Aqqel Khan (2-1) 6-4, 4-6, 6-4Girls’ U18 Singles: Soha Ali beat Lalala Rukh Sajid (2-0) 6-1, 6-1Ladies Singles: Sara Mehboob beat Sheeza Sajid (2-0) 6-4, 6-3Boys’ U18 Singles: Hamza Roman beat Hamid Israr (2-0) 6-3, 6-2Boys’ U14 Singles: Hassan Usmani beat Shayan Afridi (2-0) 6-1, 6-2Seniors 45+ Doubles: Talha Waheed & Israr Gul beat Mohammad Amin & Rashid Ali (2-0) 6-2, 6-2 

Aqeel Khan and Mohammad Shaoib reach in the Men’s Singles finalSports Bulletin ReportWah Cantt (Rawalpindi): Top seeding player Aqeel Khan and Mohammad Shaoib qualified for the Men’s Singles final of the Chairman POF Board, National Ranking Tennis Championship after beating their respective rivals in semifinal here at POF Tennis Complex on Friday. The final will be played on Saturday at the same venue. Hassan won the Under-14 Boys’ Singles title.Results (finals):Girls’ U18 Singles: Soha Ali beat Lalala Rukh Sajid 6-1, 6-1Ladies Singles: Sara Mehboob beat Sheeza Sajid 6-4, 6-3Boys’ U18 Singles: Hamza Roman beat Hamid Israr 6-3, 6-2Boys’ U14 Singles: Hassan Usmani beat Shayan Afridi 6-1, 6-2Seniors 45+ Doubles: Talha Waheed & Israr Gul beat Mohammad Amin & Rashid Ali with 6-2, 6-2Men’s Single (Semifinals):Aqeel Khan beat Mohammad Abid 7-5, 6-3Mohammad Shoaib beat Yousaf Khalil 6-2, 6-3

Sports Bulletin ReportWah Cantt (Rawalpindi): Top seed Aqeel Khan stunned 4th Hamza 2-0 in straight sets in a men’s singles match of the 4th Chairman POF Board, National Ranking Tennis Tournament at POF Tennis Complex on Thursday.On the fourth day of the tournament, in Men's Single Category top seed Aqeel Khan defeated Hamza Roman with the score-line of 6-0, 6-1. Mohammad Shoaib beat Barkat Ullah at 6-3, 6-2. Yousaf Khalil beat Muzammil Murtaza with 6-2, 6-1. Mohammad Abid beat Abdullah Adnan with 6-1, 6-1. In Boys under 18 category, Mohammad Faizan defeated Ehsan Bari with 4-1, 4-1 while Hamza Roman beat Mohammad Salar with 6-4, 7-5. In the girls Under 18 category, Soha Ali overcame Sheeza Sajid with the score-line of 0-6, 6-2, and 6-4 while Lalarukh Sajid defeated Mahrukh Sajid with 6-4, 7-6 (4).

Sports Bulletin Report Wah Cantt (Rawalpindi): Yousaf Khalil, Abdullah Adnan, Hamza Roman, Muzamil Murtaza, Mohammad Abid, Mohammad Shoaib, Barkat Ullah, and Aqeel Khan have won their respective matches on the third day of the Men’s Singles Event of the 4th Chairman POF Board, National Ranking Tennis Tournament is being played at POF Tennis Complex on Wednesday.Men’s Singles:Yousaf Khalil beat Saqib Hayat 7-6 (2), 6-2Abdullah Adnan beat Zalan Khan 6-1, 7-5Hamza Roman beat Hamid Israr 6-2, 6-1Muzamil Murtaza beat Nalain Abbas 6-1, 6-3Mohammad Abid beat Sami Zeb Khan 7-5, 6-0Mohammad Shoaib beat Shahzad Khan 6-3, 6-3Barkat Ullah beat Jibran Ul Haq 6-0, 6-1Aqeel Khan beat Heera Ashiq 6-4, 6-4Boys’ U18 Singles:Asad Zaman beat Sheryar Anees 6-4, 6-1Hamid Israr beat Mohammad Yahya 6-0, 6-3Mohammad Salar beat Inam Qadir 6-3, 6-4.

Hameed ul Haq The Pakistan Tennis Federation (PTF) Elections, held on February 10, 2024, for the post of President, Secretary, and Treasurer were tainted by a strong controversy right from the start due to a questioned vote. The elections were held, after an inordinate delay of over a year beyond the expiry of the term of the incumbent federation, who desired to prolong its stay for as long as possible.The Elections featured two panels, one led by Major General Asghar Nawaz (Retd) and another by Aisam ul Haq. The election yielded a split result with the panel of the former winning two important slots of Secretary General and Treasurer while Aisam ul Haq could barely secure the slot of President with a narrow margin of one vote, which is considered disputed. The Chief Election Commissioner, Mr Shakeel Durrani, former Chairman WAPDA presided over the election process and faced a predicament when a candidate raised a serious objection challenging the eligibility of the vote of International Lawn Tennis Club (ILTC) Pakistan, an associate member unit of PTF. The objections were raised in the light of the PTF Constitution and it was pointed out that ILTC having defaulted in payment of dues of PTF for the last five years falls into the status of “expelled member” and hence loses the right to vote. The more serious amongst the other objections pertained to violation of Article 21 of said Constitutions according to which only the President of an associate member of PTF or his authorized representative can cast the vote. The President of ILTC passed away in March 2021, and with no President elected an aged Secretary of ILTC who is been ridden since long authorized, illegally, a representative to cast the vote in Elections which is considered a flagrant violation of the PTF Constitution.The Chief Election Commissioner, after duly acknowledging the objections to be genuine allowed the elections process to continue with the proviso that the objections would later be addressed through established rules and forms, as per the PTF Constitution, in a specially called General Meeting of PTF Council, within ten days.He made it clear that the voting results may alter or elections may be held again if the contested vote is found illegal as per the PTF Constitution. Another surprising aspect was that the observer representative of POA, the parent body of the Country’s sports federations, was kept out of the crucial first phase of the election proceedings when these objections were discussed with the Chief Election Commissioner.The vote of ILTC assumes significance because it openly nominated and expressed its support for the Panel led by the Aisam ul Haq and if the vote gets void, besides of embarrassment caused, the votes for President PTF will become equal and a tie will occur. The PTF’s outgoing Management, with an obvious bias, has also tried to give a twist to the matter by the incorrect recording of the Chief Elections Commissioner’s decisions in Minutes of Elections, issued on 17 February 2024 which has been promptly noticed by all stakeholders.Considering the past performance of the previous PTF set-up where no fresh crop of internationally competitive players was prepared resulting in a 4-0 drubbing of Pakistan’s Davis at the hands of an Indian Davis Cup team at Islamabad, there is a requirement that fairness, professionalism and merit is promoted in the tennis affairs. The holding of elections marred with illegalities and controversies bodes ill for the future of the game. Pakistan Olympics Association and the relevant stakeholders must step in to ensure that the election process of PTF is subjected to fair play, legality, and fairness, in the absence of which the entire edifice of tennis promotion and player development will remain elusive.(Editor Note: The writer is a former tennis player and achieved many titles for the country. If someone wants to give his point of view about this article Sports Bulletin will welcome, and publish that)  

Pakistan’s Ahmed Nael Qureshi overpowers Shijie Chen from China in straight sets 2-0 in finalAbdul Jabbar FaisalISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s rising tennis star, Ahmed Nael Qureshi outclassed high-ranked Shijie Chen from China in straight sets 2-0 in Boys’ Singles final of the ITF Pakistan Zainab Ali Naqvi Memorial World Junior Championship Leg-2 at PTF -SDA Tennis Complex Garden Avenue Islamabad on Saturday. The final score-line was 6-1, and 6-3.In the Boys’ Single final, pencil thin Ahmad Nael Qureshi exhibited classic game of tennis to overcome high ranking challenger Shijie, as he took over control on the match from starting and did not allow his rival to settle the feet on the court and finished first set at 6-1.In the second set, Ahmed Nael kept the same pace and game quality and won the set after conceding just three games and won the prestigious title for Pakistan after a long time. Senator Salim Saifullah Khan Ex-President-PTF, Aisam ul Haq Qureshi-President-PTF, Col (Retd) Ziauddin Tufail, and Mohammad Arif Qureshi Treasurer -PTF congratulated Ahmed Nael on his memorable victory.Senator Salim Saifullah Khan Ex-President-PTF was the chief guest at the closing ceremony. The closing ceremony was also attended by Col. Ziauddin Tufail [R], Col. Sadaf Akram, Saeed Ahmed-SEVP-PTF, Mansoor Ahmmad Khan DDG-PSB and a large number of players, coaches, parents, and tennis lovers.Senator Salim Saifullah Khan paid rich tributes to the young and talented Zainab Ali Naqvi- a young tennis player who had come to Islamabad from Karachi to participate in the ITF Juniors Tournaments and passed away on 12th February 2024 in Islamabad. The Ex-President-PTF said that the tennis fraternity is indeed in great shock and Zainab will be always remembered.Results (Finals):Boys’ Singles: Ahmed Nael Qureshi of Pakistan beat Shijie Chen of China 6-1, 6-3Girl's Singles: Kira Kalinouskaya of Belarus beat Paramee Tadkaew of Thailand 6-4, 6-2

Sports Bulletin ReportISLAMABAD: Pakistan slim & smart tennis player, Ahmed Neal Qureshi cruised into the Boys’ Singles final of the ITF Pakistan Zainab Ali Naqvi Memorial World Junior Championship Leg-2 after thrashing Jacob Kailiang Shen from Hong Kong 2-0 at PTF -SDA Tennis Complex Islamabad on Friday. The final score-line was 6-4, 6-3.Results (Semifinals):Ahmed Nael Qureshi (PAK) beat Jacob Kailiang Shen (HKG) 6-4, 6-3Shijie Chen (CHN) beat Kaigaoge Kang (CHN) 6-2, 6-4Girls’ Singles (Semifinals):Kira Kalinouskaya (BLR) beat Stefaniya Neporent (BLR) 6-4, 6-1Paramee Tadkaew (THA) beat Ekaterina Pestereva (RUS) 6-4 (Retd)Boys’ Doubles (Final):Dong Hyeon Euom(KOR) / Jiwan Park (KOR) beat Kaigaoge Kang(CHN) / Oscar Reilly 6-4, 5-7 (10-8)Saturday’s Schedule:GIRLS SINGLES FINAL: 10:30 amBOYS SINGLES FINAL: 01:30 pm 

Pakistani Ahmed Nael, and Jacob, Shijie, and Kaigaoge qualify for Boys’ Singles semifinalsAbdul Jabbar FaisalISLAMABAD: Ekaterina Pestereva from Russia, Paramee Tadkaew from Thailand, Stefaniya Neporent from Belarus, and Kira Kalinouskaya from Belarus advanced into the semifinals of the Girls’ Singles discipline of the ITF Pakistan Zainab Ali Naqvi Memorial World Junior Championship Leg-2 after beating their respective opponents in quarterfinals here at PTF -SDA Tennis Complex, Garden Avenue on Thursday.Rising tennis lad, Ahmed Nael Qureshi kept the hope alive of Pakistan for the title, as he thrashed his challenger Dong Hyeon Euom from Korea in straight sets 2-0 with the final score-line of 6-4, and 6-2. Also, Jacob Kailiang Shen from Hong Kong, Shijie Chen from China, and Kaigaoge Kang from China jumped into semifinals after winning their respective matches.Results:Boys’ Singles (Quarterfinals):Jacob Kailiang Shen (HKG) beat Jiwan Park (KOR) 6-3, 2-6, 6-3Shijie Chen (CHN) beat Ahtesham Humayun (PAK) 6-7(3), 6-3, 6-1Kaigaoge Kang (CHN) beat Oscar Reilly (NED) 6-4, 6-4Ahmed Nael Qureshi (PAK) beat Dong Hyeon Euom (KOR) 6-4, 6-2Girls’ Singles (Quarterfinals):Ekaterina Pestereva (RUS) beat Gehansa Don (SRI) 6-0, 6-2Paramee Tadkaew (THA) beat Chaewon Whang (KOR) 6-2, 6-2Stefaniya Neporent (BLR) beat Jingke Yan (CHN) 6-3, 6-4Kira Kalinouskaya (BLR) beat Katsiaryna Dubik (BLR) 3-1(Retd)Girls’ Doubles (Semifinals):Gyuree Nam (KOR) / Chaewon Whang (KOR) beat Dicle Izgi (TUR) / Paramee Tadkaew (THA) 6-1, 6-2Stefaniya Neporent(BLR) / Ekaterina Pestereva(RUS) beat Deniz Cakil (TUR) / Jingke Yan (CHN) 6-0, 6-4