KARACHI: Beacon House 1 prevailed over Foundation Public School II in the under-15 quarter-finals while Ali Public School stunned a srong Karachi Grammar School side to enter the semifinal in the 16-18 age category at the Interschool Team Tennis Tournament 2016 series held at the Karachi Gymkhana on Sunday.

The day witnessed some exciting matches and impressive comebacks. In the under-15 age group, two ties were decided by the doubles match. Beacon House 1 beat Foundation Public School II (FPS) after Ali and Agha Saliq of Beacon House won the deciding doubles 11-5.

The match between Asher Mir of Bay View Academy I and Omar Shafi of Beacon House also went full distance. However, Asher held his nerve to win the tie 12-10. Musab of Beacon House leveled the tie and then teamed up with Farooq to win the doubles and enter the semi-finals.

In the 16-18 age group competitions, Hania Naveed of Beacon House made an impressive comeback against Shabbir of Cedar College to win 11-9. Her teammate Saeed beat Shameer to take Beacon House into the semis where they will face Nixor College team who prevailed over Lyceum after a tough fight.

The tie between Karachi Grammar School (KGS) and Ali Public School was another highlight of the day. Zubair Raja from Ali Public won the first singles but Maarib from KGS beat Parbaat to level the tie. He then teamed up with Nasrullah to face Zubair and Parbat in the doubles.

After exchange of early breaks, Ali Public finally saw off the stiff challenge from KGS to book their place in the semis against last tournament’s runners-up Bahria College.

The semi-finals and finals will be held on Nov 26 and 27 respectively. The tournament is being organized by Razia Babar and Nabil Hoodbhoy of Perfect Strokes.

Published in Dawn November 22nd, 2016