LAHORE – PLTA Secretary General Rashid Malik formally inaugurated the All Pakistan National Invitational Tennis Tournament 2023 here at the DeSOM Lahore on Monday.
Rashid Malik (Tamgha-e-Imtiaz) graced the opening ceremony as chief guest and inaugurated the prestigious tournament in the presence of participating players, their families and tennis lovers. Malik also witnessed a men’s singles match and applauded both the players for showcasing their skills during the match.
A total of 30 matches were played on the first day of the championship. All the top players advanced to the second round with comfortable victories and a high-standard of tennis was witnessed during some of the matches.
In the men’s singles 1st round, Pakistan No 1 tennis player Aqeel Khan beat Ahtesham Arif 6-1, 6-1, Davis Cupper Shehzad Khan beat Rai Asim Zafar 6-1, 6-2, Nalain Abbas beat Col Atif 6-2, 6-3, Mudassar Murtaza beat Mahatir Muhammad 6-2, 6-0, Ahmad Babar beat M Talha Khan 6-0, 6-0, Hamid Israr beat Sikandar Hayat 6-3, 6-3, Semi Zeb Khan beat Fayyaz Khan 6-2, 6-3, Heera Ashiq beat Saqib Hayat 6-0, 6-3, M Salaar beat Faizan Fayyaz 6-3, 4-6, 7-6, Yousaf Khalil beat Kamran Khan 6-1, 6-1, Ahmad Nael Qureshi beat Asadullah 6-2, 6-2, Imran Bhatti (Gymkhana) beat Abdul Hanan Khan 4-6, 7-5, 6-3 and M Shoaib beat Bilal Asim 6-4, 6-1.
In the boys U-16 1st round, Hafiz Hussain beat Hafiz Hassan 6-4, 4-6, 12-10, Yousaf Manoo beat M Hameed 6-1, 6-3, Abubakar Khalil beat Mustafa Zaidi 6-2, 6-2, Hamza Ali Rizwan beat Ismail Ahmad 6-2, 6-3 and Aalay Husnain beat Moavia Butt 0-6, 7-5, 12-10.