Pakistan No. 5 Yousaf Ali Of PAF Wins KP Men Singles Tennis Championship Title

Pakistan No. 5 promising Yousaf Ali of PAF upset Saqib Umer of SNGPL in the marathon three sets final of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Tennis Cup played here at two Synthetic Courts on Friday.

Former sports Minister Syed Aqil Shah was the chief guest on this occasion and Chairman/President KP Tennis Association Dr. Tahir Khan, DIG Investigation Muhammad Saleem Marwat, Director PESCO Engr. Zaka Ullah Khan, Aamir Khan Advocate, Associate Secretary Pakistan Olympic Association Zulfiqar Ali Butt, Secretary Umar Ayaz, international tennis player Israr Gul, players and officials were also present.

Yousaf Ali and Saqib Umer played well against each other and some beautiful smashes, Ace services were also witnessed. Yousaf lost the first set by 5-7 before playing a 6-6 against Saqib Umer but he managed his position and played with great determination by winning two consecutive set by 6-4 and 7-5. The final lasted for one hour and 50 minutes and both the players produced attacking game with lot of rallies, baseline shorts and Ace services.

Yousaf has full command over his strong service which somehow created a panic like situation for Saqib Umar but he played well and hit some beautiful smashes. Saqib Umar, the lefty player, has very beautiful and forceful smashes, specially in the first set he won at 5-7 before leveling at 6-6.

Saqib was struggling at 8-3 game point but he tied the game at 8-8 before losing the set at 6-4 and similarly the two were stretched to 6-6 when Yousaf Ali got the set by 7-5 (6-6).

In the Under-12 age category Pakistan No. 1 Hamza Roman beat Shasawar Khan by 6-4 and 6-3.

Both Hamza and Shasawar Khan played well and receiving thundering applauses from the sitting spectators.

It was the Under-14 final when Uzair Khan upset Kashan Umer, the top seeded in a marathon 7-6, 4-6 and 6-4. The match lasted for two hours and 10-minute and both Uzair and Kashan displayed excellent game.

In the Men doubles Ijaz Khan and Barkat Ullah of Police recorded victory against Yousaf Ali and Shoaib of PAF in another thrilling match, the score was 5-7 (6-6), 6-4 and 6-3. Ijaz and Barkat Ullah did not give much time to top guns Yousaf Ali and Shoaib of PAF to stage a comeback and thus marched into a vital victory.

At the end, the chief guest gave away trophies and cash prizes.

DIG Saleem Marwat, the President KP Tennis Association, assured the players that more such events would be organized so that to provide much needed competitive exposures to the players. He also thanked former DG Sports Junaid Khan for giving Rs. 0.2 million for the cash prizes.