LAHORE - Pakistan U-14 junior team beat Hong Kong in the semifinals and will now face third seed Japan in final of the ITF World Tennis Junior Team Competition Asia/Oceania Final Qualifying Kuching, Malaysia today (Saturday). Meanwhile, top seed South Korea, who were stunned by third seed Japan on Friday, will be facing fourth seed Hong Kong for the 3rd/4th places playoffs. After stunning Australia in the quarterfinals, Pakistan team has already qualified for the World Group that will take place in August this year in the Czech Republic. The first semifinal of the event saw Pakistani juniors outpacing fourth ranked Hong Kong team 2-1 for securing a place in the Final against Japan.
The hero of the event from Pakistan, Abubakar Talha, continued to be the pivotal player for the boys in green as he again won the first match for his side by outshining Selwyn Wong Tsz Yuen by 6-3, 6-2. Tam Sin Hang later pulled one back for Hong Kong in the second singles’ match by overwhelming Hamza Roman 6-1, 6-1. In the all important doubles’ match to decide the winner, Hamza Roman managed to make it up for the singles’ loss by teaming up with Abubakar Talha to beat Choi Fu Wang and Tam by 7-6(5), 6-4 after 96 minutes of hard-fought battle. Soon after another impressive victory in the prestigious event, Pakistan Tennis Federation (PTF) President Senator Salim Saifullah Khan, in a statement, lauded the good show of young Pakistani lads and felicitated the team, captain, coaches and their parents.
Nawaz Sharif calls for full court in Punjab, KP elections case
“This is a historic moment for the young Pakistan team and I hope they will continue the same performance in the finals.” Meanwhile, third seed Japan came from behind to pull off a minor upset victory over top seed South Korea in the second semifinal. Kim Dong Min first took a 1-0 lead for South Korea in the first singles’ match when he beat Kensuke Kobayashi by a narrow margin of 6-4, 5-7, 7-6(3). Motoharu Abe did wonders for Japan as he displayed outstanding tennis skills and techniques and won the second singles against Kim Won Min by 6-2, 6-4 to equalise the score at 1-1. The decisive doubles match, saw it being delayed due to the rain when it was initially scheduled to start at 3:15pm local time. After waiting it out for three and a half hours, the doubles’ match resumes at 6:45pm local time and Kobayashi and Kanta Watanabe registered an important win over the South Korean pair of Cho Min Hyuk and Kim Dong Min by 6-2, 3-6, [10-7].
KP caretaker govt appoints under inquiry officer as DG Health