4th HTR Masters Cup Tennis Tournament begins today

LAHORE: The 4th Hassan Tariq Rahim (HTR) Masters Cup (Invitational) Tennis Tournament starts from December 23 to 30 at the hard courts of the Lahore Gymkhana Club.

The opening ceremony of the tournament will be held at 11:00 am on Sunday, December 23. Chairman Lahore Gymkhana Club Kamran Lashari will be the chief guest. World’s doubles player and Pakistan’s pride of tennis Aisamul Haq Qureshi has confirmed his participation and will be playing along with other Pakistan’s top ranked players in this eight-day tournament. The tournament is being staged on format of ATP World Tour Finals held in London, every year. The tournament committee consists of Khawaja Ahmad Tariq Rahim (chairman), Mian Imran Ahmad, Waqar Nisar, Mian Amer Altaf secretary Lahore Gymkhana tennis, Shahid Waqar Mahmood captain tennis/tournament director and Furqan Uddin Khan, assistant tournament director. Asif Riaz will act as chief referee of the tournament.

Hassan Tariq Rahim, son of former Governor Punjab Kh Ahmad Tariq Rahim passed away in June 2013 at the age of 46 years, due to cancer. He was a very passionate club tennis player, who enjoyed and played tennis very religiously and was a very popular figure among the members of club. In his commemoration and for promotion of tennis in Pakistan, the tournament is held annually.

The tournament carries hefty prize money for the participants, as the total purse exceeds Rs 1.18 million, being the highest tournament on Pakistan Tennis circuit. The men’s singles winner is to get Rs 150,000 and men’s doubles winners Rs.150,000. While Women’s singles winner gets Rs 75,000 and Boy’s Under-18 winner gets Rs 60,000.

Further, the players losing in Group matches are also paid Group losers prize money for participating in the tournament. The outstation players are being provided with accommodation along with daily & travel allowances. This year ten players have been invited in the Men’s singles Women’s singles, and Boy’s Under-18 while eight pairs in men’s doubles are taking part. The draw ceremony was held on Friday. Following are the draws:

Men’s Singles:

Khawaja Iftikhar Group; Aqeel Khan, Mudassar Murtaza, Heera Ashiq, M Abid Ali Akbar, & Ahmed Ch.

S. M. Alam Group; M Abid, Muzamil Murtaza, M Shoaib, Yousaf Khalil & Shamael Ch.

Men’s Doubles:

KTR Group: Aisam Qureshi & Aqeel Khan, Mudassar Murtaza & Muzamil Murtaza, Heera Ashiq & Abdal Haider, Imran Bhatti & Tariq Sadiq.

Noon Group: M Abid & M Waqas Malik, Shahzad Khan & Ahmed Chaudhry, M Abid Ali Akbar & Shamael Chaudhry, Yousaf Khalil & M Shoaib.

Women’s Singles;

Perveen Naseer Group: Sara Mansoor, Esha Jawad, Mehwish Chistie, Nida Akram Awan, Mehaq Khokhar.

Aziz Taqi Butt Group: Sarah mahboob Khan, Ushna Suhail, Noor Malik, Shimza Naaz Durab & Khunsha Chaudhry.

Aisam ul Haq Qureshi GroupBoy’s Under-18:

Jamil Ahmad Group: M Shoaib, M Nauman Aftab, Ahmed Kamil, Ahmed Asjad Qureshi & Shehryaar Tariq.

Haseeb Aslam Group: Huzaifa Abdul Rehman, Saqib Hayat, Abdullah Adnan, Aqib Hayat & Taimur Saleem.