KARACHI Men's singles winner of Pakistan Open tennis championship will fetch a record purse of Rs100,000 when the annual event gets into action at the Creek Club courts on Sunday.
A hefty prize money of Rs259,000 out of half-a-million rupees allocation is at the stake showing an overall increase of thirty per cent in prize money as compared to last year.
'The highest purse given to men's singles winner was Rs75,000 in the Khyber Cup final held at Peshawar last year,' secretary, Sindh Tennis Association (STA), Khalid Rehmani told Dawn on Tuesday.
According to break-up, the men's singles runner up will receive Rs40,000. The ladies singles winner earns Rs40,000 while runner up will take home Rs10,000.
According to STA official, leading players of the country defending champion Aqeel Khan, Jalil Khan, Yasir Khan who are in Manila in connection with July 10 to 12 Davis Cup tie against Philippines have confirmed their participation besides Nomi Qamar and Islamabad's Abid Ali.
As for ladies, Lahore's Ushna Sohail and Saba Aziz and Islamabad's Sara Mansoor have also confirmed to feature in the weeklong contest.
Country's top woman player Sara Mehboob may not be able to defend her crown as she is away from the country.
The events that will be organised include men's singles, ladies singles, juniors' under-17 singles, boys' under-15 singles, boys' under-13 singles, boys' under-11 singles and men's doubles.
The last date for submission of entries is July 9. Outstation players have been asked to send their entries through their respective provincial or district association of affiliated unit of PTF.
Meanwhile, the players who are desirous to take part in the event have been asked to mention their Tennis Players Identification Number (TPIN) in the entry form. The players who still do not have TPIN must acquire it from secretary STA.
The STA has started player's registration some two years back and now converted it to TPIN from May 1 this year making it mandatory for players to mention the same in entry form.
'We have so far issued around 440 TPIN to players across the country,' Rehmani said.
