The 19th times national champion of Pakistan Davis Cup, Aqeel Khan clinched the trophy after defeating his young rival Barkat Ullah in the final of the men singles of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Open Tennis Championship played here at Synthetic Courts on Friday.
Aqeel Khan and Barkat Ullah exhibited classic display of forceful shorts, cross-court smashes and some beautiful and speedy Ace services. Aqeel Khan took the first set by 6-3 wherein Barkat Ullah raced up from 3 games down by leveling the tally 3-3 before Aqeel won the battle. It was a good show of Barkat who smashed some beautiful baseline shorts and cross-court smashes and won the set by 4-6. When both Aqeel Khan and Barkat Ullah were tied 1-1 it was the third and decisive set when Aqeel comes with his killer backhand and forehands which created a panic like situation in the rank of Barkat Ullah by winning the set 6-2.
In the Under-14 final 3rd seeded Kashan Umar made two upset in the Championship. First he defeated Hamza Roman, the top seeded player and Pakistan No. 1, in the semi-final and recorded victory against second seed Uzair Khan in the final by 6-3, 2-6 and 6-4.
In the doubles event Shoaib Khan and Asad ULlah defeated Ejaz Akhtar and Barkat Ullah by 6-2, 3-6 and 6-3. In the above 35 year age Shahid Afridi and Shaheen Mehmood beat Israr Gul and Janzaib by 6-2, 4-6 and 7-6 (6-6).
Former Sports Minister Aqil Shah, DIG Police Muhammad Saleem Marwat, Member Executive Committee Zaka Ullah, Secretary AIP Asia Amjad Aziz Malik, President and Senior Vice President KP Tennis Association Dr. Tahir and Dr. Farhat Abbas, Secretary Umar Ayaz, officials, players and spectators were also present and witnessed the grand final.
Aqeel Khan said that he is very much happy to be part of the Championship organized very nicely by KP Tennis Association in which good number of players took part. He said there is no dearth of talent of talent in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and if provided due support they would win back more laurel for the country at national and international levels.