LAHORE – Phenomenal Asad Zaman and Bilal Asim excelled on the opening day of the 3rd Tennis Lovers Junior National Tennis Championship 2022 by winning their respective matches in the U-18 and U-16 categories here at the Punjab Tennis Academy, Bagh-e-Jinnah on Tuesday.
PLTA Secretary Rashid Malik, who is also tournament organizer, inaugurated the event at a colorful opening ceremony, which was also attended by players, their families and tennis lovers. Malik said that the purpose of conducting national junior tournaments is to promote this beautiful game at grassroots level and provide maximum opportunities to youngsters and kids to exhibit their prowess and excel at high level.
“I am grateful to all the sponsors who come forward to help the PLTA in conducting a record number of tournaments every year, and this year too, we have plans to organize a record number of tennis tournaments and break the previous years’ record. For this, we need more such generous sponsors, who may come forward to help in promoting tennis especially at junior level, as junior players are our future tennis stars,” he added.
On the opening day, the matches were decided in different age categories, where top seeds played well and advanced to the next rounds. In the boys U-18 first round matches, Asad Zaman beat Abdul Hanan Khan 6-4, 6-2 while Bilal Asim (SICAS) routed Arman Kamran 6-3, 6-3, Hamid Israr thrashed Omer Shafique 6-0, 6-0, Hamza Jawad thumped Hanzala Anwar 6-1, 6-2, Ali Jawad beat Husnain Ali 6-4, 6-4 and Zaeem Ghafoor overpowered Inam Qadir 6-1, 6-2.
In the boys U-16 first round matches, Asad Zaman had to struggle hard to beat Shehryar Anees 3-6, 6-1, 7-5 while Bilal Asim outclassed Inam Qadir 6-0, 6-0, Ahtesham Humayun crushed Zain Saeed 6-0, 6-0 and Hamza Roman beat M Sohaan Noor 6-1, 6-2. In the boys U-14 first round, Abdullah Sajjad Wahla beat Essa Fahad 4-2, 5-4 (5).
