Eight players qualify for Federal Cup tennis main round

KARACHI: Eight players qualified for the main round of the 33rd Federal Cup National Ranking Tennis Championships in Islamabad on Monday.

The players who qualified are Irfanullah, Usman Ijaz, Mian Bilal, Jabir Ali, Jibran-ul-Haq, Emad Uddin, Kamran Khan and Hamid-ul-Haq. In the first qualifying round of men’s singles, Usman Ijaz beat Bilal Farooq 8-2, Jabir Ali thrashed Pooyan Shateri 8-0, and Kamran Khan smashed Asadullah Karim 8-1.

In the second qualifying round, Irfanullah beat Huzaima Abdur Rehman 8-3, Mian Bilal defeated Azeem Khan 8-4, Emaduddin beat Talha Saqib 8-5, and Hamid-ul-Haq won against Ahmed Murad 8-2.

Later, the draws of the main round were taken out by the tournament referee. According to the draws, Aqeel Khan is top seed and Muzammil Murtaza is second. Shahzad Khan and Mudassar Murtaza are seeded third and fourth, respectively, while Yousaf Khalil is fifth. Heera Ashiq and Ahmed Kamil are seeded sixth and seventh, respectively, awhile Muhammad Abid is eighth seed.