0
KARACHI: The United Bank Limited (UBL) has staged a comeback in sports after a long layoff by sponsoring an international hard court tennis championship carrying the richest-ever prize money of one million rupees at Karachi Gymkhana courts from December 18-24.
The main rounds will be preceded by two-day qualifiers which start on Saturday. The players who are interested to feature in the qualifiers have been asked to report at the venue on Saturday at 12.30pm
At least five Sri Lankan players, including two girls, have confirmed to feature in the week-long spectacle, thus making it a glamorous event, while celebrity Aisam-ul-Haq who is getting married in Lahore on Saturday, is also expected to arrive on December 23.
The Lankans will be represented by their national champion and Davis Cupper Thangarajah Dineshkanthan, junior under-16 champion Nishangan Nadaraja, junior under-18 player Madusha Wijesuriya, under-14 girl player Hasindhi Lokuge and unseeded Khadija Khan.
Pakistan tennis ace Aqeel Khan, Yasir Khan, veterans Rashid Malik and Hameed-ul-Haq will be making their presence felt in the competition.
Sponsored by UBL, the event is being jointly-organised by Pakistan Tennis Federation (PTF), the Sindh Tennis Association (STA) and the Sindh Tennis Players Association (STPA).
“It’s a good gesture shown by the sponsors who acceded to the president PTF Syed Kaleem Imam’s request to come forward and organise the lucrative event,” Saeed Ahmed told newsmen at a news conference at Karachi Gymkhana on Friday.
Veteran tennis player himself, Mr. Ahmed, who represents International Club (IC) in the PTF, said the games controlling body had send two white badge referees from Islamabad — Arif Qureshi and Shahzad Akhtar Alvi — to run the event.
Outlining salient feature, tournament director Khawaja Masroor said the event will be staged in men’s singles, ladies singles, boys’ under-18 singles, boys’ under-14 singles, men’s doubles, veteran’s 45 plus doubles and mixed doubles.
The men’s singles will have a draw of 32-24 seeded players and eight qualifiers. The men’s singles champion will fetch a purse of Rs125,000 while the runner-up will receive Rs 75,000. First round losers will also get their share of prize money. An entry fee of Rs 200 per event will be charged from participants.
To a question, he said time constraint and lack of coordination was the reason behind non participation of Indian players.
Speaking on the occasion, Anita Mirza, head of corporate communications and public relations division of the bank, threw light on the role of her institution and expressed optimism to make the event an annual feature.
President of the Karachi Gymkhana Ali Rahim and Reza Ali Mirza of STPA also spoke on the occasion.
Meanwhile, responding to a query on phone, Hasan Raza, group executive, corporate banking, UBL, agreed that sponsoring the event heralds revival of sports after a decade.
It is pertinent to mention that the financial institution disbanded the sports teams following privatisation in 2002.
