Daily Times

LAHORE: The 6th Hassan Tariq Rahim National Ranking Tennis Tournament is in full swing at the Lahore Gymkhana Tennis Courts. Qualifyng matches are already in progress and span over three days and thereafter main draw matches start from November 29.This was highlighted by Waqar Nisar, tournament director, in a press conference attended by Wajid Aziz, convenertennis, and Furqan Khan. It was further brought out that tennis champions of merit will all converge to the famed tennis arena of the historical Gymkhana Club to engage in vibrant and combative encounters that will be gripping,stirring and at times sharp edged in terms of tennis playing artistry and expertness.

This championship brings forth an opportunity to remember and commemorate Hassan Tariq Rahim who lost his life to an indisposition caused by a tumor at an age when life promised an enormous effervescent time for him.As a man of talent and resources,Hassan Tariq was full of charm and gusto and his tennis playing friends and colleagues at Gymkhana Club admired him for his vitality and the twinkle in his eyes,his courteousness,social conscience,public spiritedness and benevolence.Though six years have passed since his demise,his father Khawaja Tariq Rahim,an accomplished jurist and a pivotal figure at the tennis courts along with his tennis playing mates, can feel his spiritual presence around the tennis courts.

The Hassan Tariq Rahim Tennis Championship has all the ingredients of a formidable tennis show down.Expectations are that the encounters will be ferocious,intense and spirited with top ranking players performing in a noteworthy obsession to suppress adversaries forcefully. Ingenious and masterly champions of the national tennis scene endeavour to display power packed serves backed by enrapturing rallies,sprightly movements and discerning game strategy.In the men’s matches,the mighty ones are the one and only Aqeel Khan, the proficient Mudassar Murtuza, the adept Mohammad Abid and the sturdy Mohammad Shoaib. Remarkable ones in ladies section are adroit and apt ones like Sarah Mahboob Khan, Ushna Sohail, Esha Jawad, Noor Malik and Mehak Khokhar. Interestingly the prize money for men and women is equal. Aisamul Haq Qureshi, the highly commendable, praiseworthy and illustrious one of the tennis world, will adorn and enrich this Hassan Tariq Rahim Tennis Tournament with his participation in the men’s doubles