Foreigners turn up in big numbers for ITF Juniors

ISLAMABAD: As many as 40 foreign players from 15 countries have so far reached Pakistan to figure in the ITF Pakistan Juniors Tennis Championships Leg-1 that already started with the qualifying round at the PTF-SDA Tennis Complex on Saturday.

Besides the host country, boys and girls from Turkey, Iran, Singapore, Russia, Uzbekistan, Poland, the UK, Thailand, China, Korea, Malaysia, Kazakhstan, Romania and Canada have so far reached Islamabad for the back-to-back junior international events.

A total number of six qualifying matches were played on the first day.

The President Pakistan Tennis Federation (PTF) Salim Saifullah Khan conveyed his best wishes for the smooth conduct of the event and also welcomed the foreign players, coaches and their parents for participation in the subject event.

The President also conveyed his thanks to the Islamabad Police for their security coverage.

Boys singles qualifying first round:

Maxim Olar (RUS) bt Saifullah Khan (PAK) 6-1, 6-1; Yuan Lu (CHN) bt Yash Bahalkar(GBR) 6-3, 6-2; Ilya Mosolkin (RUS) bt Hamza Rehmat (PAK) 6-0, 6-1; Boda Zheng (CHN) bt Mustansir Ali Khan 6-0, 6-0; Hamza Aasim bt Yahya Musa Luni (GBR) 6-0, 6-0; Muhammad Salar bt Ada Guler 6-2, 7-6(5).