Aqeel, Shahzad power into doubles semis

ISLAMABAD: Crowd favourite and former world No 65 Pere Riba (Spain) had to pull out of the Begum Kulsum ITF Futures tennis tournament and later from the Benazir Bhutto Futures tennis event due to hamstring injury that cost him match against Luka Pavlovic (France) here Friday at the PTF Complex.

Riba was all over Pavlovic after winning the first set 6-2 and leading the second 5-2 when he faced hamstring injury that totally crippled his movement on the court.

Though he stayed at the court for that one last game that could have taken him to semi-finals, he was unable to even stand and ultimately had to leave the match and his further commitment in Pakistan.

He later booked his seat back home along with his coach.“It is really unfortunate. I wanted to continue playing but to my luck I faced this sudden injury. I really enjoyed my stay in Pakistan,” he said.