Haniya, Jabir emerge champs in Servaid Jr Tennis

LAHORE: Haniya Minhas and Jabir Ali annexed the double crowns in the Servaid Punjab Junior Tennis Championship 2020, which concluded here at PLTA Courts on Sunday.

Director General Sports Punjab Adnan Arshad Aulakh and Servaid Director Haroon Sheikh graced the finals as chief guests while PLTA Secretary Rashid Malik, SBP officials, players, their families and tennis lovers were also present on the occasion.

Malik thanked SBP Director General Adnan Arshad for sparing some time to witness the young and talented tennis players in action and announcing very fruitful projects for the development and promotion of tennis across Punjab.

After making functional the state-of-the-art tennis stadium at Nishtar Park Sports Complex, which has five tennis courts, the SBP can not only conduct a good number of national and international tennis tournaments but also can established a tennis academy here, which can transform the raw talent into champions, Malik added.

The PLTA secretary also thanked Servaid Director Haroon Sheikh for sponsoring the event, where a good number of talented players exhibited their prowess and amused the spectators and chief guests with their game and talent. “The more the sponsors support this beautiful game, the better the result we will get and help in uplifting the game in Pakistan.”

In Boys/Girls U-12 final, Haniya Minhas played well against Omer Jawad and outclassed him 8-0. She completed the brace of titles by winning the Girls U-16 final, where she thrashed seasoned campaigner Ashtifila Arif 4-0, 4-0. Jabir Ali was also in sublime form as he first routed Ahtesham Arif 6-2, 6-2 to grab the boys U-18 title and then he won the second crown, when he, along with Ahtesham Arif, outpaced Zain Chaudhry/Ifham Rana 4-2, 4-2 in U-18 doubles final.

In U-10 final, Omer Jawad played well against Zohaib Afzal Malik and outscored him by 8-3 to lift the title. In boys/girls U-12 doubles final, Zohaib Malik, partnering with Ahtesham Humayun, beat the spirited pair of Omer Jawad and Ismail Aftab 4-2, 4-2. In boys U-14 final, Asad Zaman thumped Waleed Javeed 6-1, 6-1. The U-8 gold was won by Shafay Iqbal and silver by Aized Saraj while U-6 gold went to Ahsan Bari and silver to Abdul Rafay.