Pakistan book berth in World Group, Japan beat Pakistan 2-1

Abdul Jabbar Faisal

ISLAMABAD: Japan toiled hard on the court to overcome Pakistan 2-1 in the final of the ITF World Tennis Junior Team Competition Asia-Oceania Final Qualifying in Kuching Malaysia.

According to Pakistan Tennis Federation (PTF), in the first match, Abubakar Talha lost a closely fought match with the score-line of 3-6 and 5-7. In the second Singles, Hamza Roman exhibited top class game of tennis and ousted his challenger Motoharu Abe in straight sets in s single sided-affair at 6-2, 6-1 to square the match 1-1.

In the deciding doubles, which produced exciting tennis, Abubakar and Hamza won the first set 6-4 and were ahead in the second set at 4-3. Two see-saw games saw the Japanese produced a quality tennis to take the set. The Japanese pair stepped up a notch in the deciding match-tiebreak and won 10-5 to seal the victory and lift the trophy.

It is pertinent to mention that Pakistan had already qualified for the World Group by virtue of qualifying for the semi-finals. Under-14 team created history by reaching the World Group of the WJT team event, for the first time since 1996. It is a great achievement for the team, made up of Hamza Roman, Abubakar Talha, and Amir Mohammad Khan Mazari, ably led by Captain Heera Ashiq. Powerhouses like India, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and others, failed to make it to the even the quarterfinals stage.

In 1996, Pakistan team visited Japan comprised Nomi Qamar, the late Ejaz Ahmed, Shahzeb Niazi, and Rashid Ahmed Malik as the captain. Sixteen countries participated, including Australia, Japan, S.Korea, India, Iran, Thailand, Kazakhstan, Hong Kong, Uzbekistan, Chinese Taipei, Jordan, Kyrgyzstan, Singapore, Indonesia and Pakistan. Pakistan finished second in their group after beating Iran and Indonesia, while losing to Japan.

Complete Results of Pakistan Matches:

Final (Japan beat Pakistan) 2-1

Kanta Watanabe beat Abubakar Talha 6-3, 7-5

Hamza Roman beat Motoharu Abe 6-1, 6-2

Motoharu Abe/Kensuke Kobayashi bt Abubakar Talha/Hamza Roman 4-6, 6-4, 10-5

Semifinal (Pakistan beat Hong Kong) 2-1

Abubakar Talha beat Wong Selwyn Tsz Yuen 6-3, 6-2

Tam Sin Hang beat Hamza Roman 6-1, 6-1

Abubakar Talha / Hamza Roman beat Fu Wang Choi / Tam Sin Hang 7-6 (5), 6-4

Quarterfinal (Pakistan beat Australia) 2-1

Abubakar Talha beat Taiki Takizawa 6-4, 3-0 (retd)

Kose Cooper beat Hamza Roman 6-2, 6-1