The badminton tournament of the ongoing Karachi Press Club (KPC) Summer Sports Festival 2010 was inaugurated here at the Karachi Port Trust (KPT) Sports Complex on July 15.
Shoaib Ahmed Siddiqui, Secretary Sports & Youth Affairs to the Government of Sindh, was the guest of honour in the inauguration ceremony which was presided over by the chief of the Sindh Badminton Association (SBA), Raees Paracha.
Later the two senior bureaucrats, Shoaib Siddiqui and Raees Paracha, were escorted to the arena where they played a few rallies, turning back the years when they routinely visited badminton court.
The decision of the KPC Sports Committee to hold the badminton tournament of the Sports Festival at the centrally air-conditioned and well-maintained indoor gymnasium of the KPT Sports Complex was welcomed by all the participants.
After having staged the snooker, chess and scrabble tournaments at the club it was thought to provide the KPC members a chance to play badminton in the settings of KPT Sports Complex that not only possessed a court of high class but also had the perfect settings to host such an event.
The Chairperson of KPT, Nasreen Haq, was acknowledged during the opening ceremony for having promptly granted the approval of holding the KPC Badminton Tournament.
Engr Shah Naeem Zafar, who has been heading the sports department of the KPT for quite sometime, was also thanked for making the arrangements at a short notice.
In his brief speech on the occasion, Shoaib Siddiqui praised the initiatives of the Executive Committee of the KPC for having revived the Sports Festival which is now being supported by the sports department of the Government of Sindh.
“It’s really very heartening to find the media professionals taking to the sports field. I am sure they must be thoroughly enjoying the experience themselves. The smiling faces of the KPC members present here make me feel delighted and I think they are raring to go to the badminton court now after having demonstrated their skills in snooker, chess and scrabble during the past couple of weeks,” Shoaib Siddiqui remarked.
He made a special mention of former international athlete, Mohammad Talib, who attended the function on special invitation.
Rais Paracha, President, SBA, recognized the contribution of the media in the promotion of sports and he also welcomed the idea of having sports competitions between the working journalists.
Mr Saleem Paracha, Secretary, SBA, who conducted the ceremony in his usually exciting style before taking out the draws in the presence of Mr A H Khanzada, Honorary Secretary, KPC. A total of 28 entries were received for the tournament to be played on knockout basis.
Noman Khan, Babar Khan, Mohammad Saleem and Hamid Rahman were given a bye in the first round while the other participants were Kaleemuddin, Mohammad Aftab Ahmed, Ehtisham Ali, Mohammad Yasir, Abdul Qadir, Raja Kamran, Nabeel Ahmed, Waqar Khan, Mohammad Shahid, Syed Javed Iqbal, Mohammad Arshad, Jahangir Khan, Kamran Sahil, Sabir Mazhar, Qasim Khan, Afaq Mustafa, Tariq Hussain, Adeel Khan, Mohammad Ijaz, Ehsan Qureshi, Munir Aqeel Ansari, Syed Azhar Sultan, Jamal Khurshid and Ahmed Faridi.
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