Tag: Open

DOHA - Roger Federer hammered out his determination to hang on to his Australian Open title when he brushed aside Nikolay Davydenko to regain the Qatar Open crown on Saturday.
Last year the Russian beat the Swiss master on the way to the title.
This time world number two Federer overwhelmed the defending champion, who had put out top seed Rafael Nadal in Friday's semi-finals, 6-3, 6-4 to complete the capture of the trophy without dropping a set. He was assertive,

CHENNAI - Top seed Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic opened his campaign in the 450,000-dollar ATP Chennai Open with a fluent win over Frederico Gil of Portugal on Tuesday.
The world number six needed just 45 minutes to defeat the 101st-ranked Gil 6-0, 6-1 in a first round match at the Nungambakkam Tennis stadium in the southern Indian city. Gil was facing a total rout when he trailed 5-0 in the second set, but managed to hold his serve at that stage to win his only game in

DOHA - Roger Federer began the season which he hopes will see him add to his record 16 Grand Slam titles with a fighting win and a finish which took the roof off in the first round of the Qatar Open.
The tennis legend was forced to save three successive set points to get past Thomas Schoorel, an enterprising 21-year-old qualifier from The Netherlands, but then concluded the match amidst laughter and tumultuous applause for a shot which should get endless on-line video replays.

KARACHI - Fifty branches of Sindh Bank would be opened in the province with one branch in each of the 23 districts and two branches would be established in every divisional headquarters, the CEO of the bank, Muhammad Bilal Shaikh said on Monday.
The remaining branches would be established at various business centres in Sindh and other provinces, he added. Shaikh was speaking at the Sindh Bank Board of Directors meeting at the Chief Minister's House. The meeting was presided over

LONDON - Pakistani youngsters competing in the British Junior Open Squash Championships in Sheffield had mixed fortunes on Sunday. Appearing in the first round of Boys Under-17 category, Syed Ali Bokhari defeated his Japanese opponent Taiki Kaido in straight games by 11-6,11-5,11-4 after 24 minutes in the court.
Saad Shahid, who is ranked 64, went past local boy Joshua Masters 11-8, 11-8, 11-3 in only 21 minutes. Malik Balaj was the third successful Pakistani in the first round

PESHAWAR - Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Population Welfare Minister Salim Khan said on Saturday that to ensure the Lawari tunnel opening for traffic in current winter season, the federal government would pay extra money to the Korean construction company to facilitate the traveling of people.
In a statement, the minister said the federal government gave the approval for opening this long-awaited tunnel route in this winter.

LAHORE - Tennis fans of Islamabad witnessed exciting tennis as upcoming tennis sensation Samir Iftikhar overpowered former Davis cupper Shezad Khan 6-4, 6-3 to reach men's singles semi-final of the Caltex Pakistan Open Tennis Championship, being held at PTF Tennis Complex, Islamabad.
Samir also ousted Mohammed Abid 7-5, 6-0 to reach the boy's singles final of the same event.
The talented Pak-British citizen did not give any chance to the experienced Shezad Khan to settle

BEIJING - Chinese number two Zheng Jie will miss next month's Australian Open, where she went to the semi-finals in 2010, as she continues to recover from wrist surgery,
state media said Monday. Zheng, 27, said she was still not ready to get back on court following an injury to her left wrist that plagued her throughout the year and ended
her season
following the US Open.

Islamabad - Top seed Aqeel Khan outplayed Hira Ashiq in straight sets 2-0 in the men's singles fixture of the ongoing Caltex Pakistan Open Tennis Championship here at Pakistan Tennis Complex on Monday.
The score-line was 6-2 and 6-4. As many as 35 matches were decided on the third day in different categories. Nomi Qamar, Yasir Khan and Shahid Afridi moved to the quarter-finals of the championship winning 2-0. Remaining four pre-quarter-finals will be played on Tuesday (today) at

PESHAWAR - Amid tight security, Governor KP Owais Ahmad Ghani inaugurated the National Games in a colourful ceremony at Khan Qayoom Stadium here on Saturday. The inauguration ceremony of 31st National Games was also attended by high ranking officials from all four provinces, Azad Kashmir, Gilgit Baltistan and FATA.
Former Olympian Qazi Salahuddin entered the stadium with the torch after the governor declared the Games open. Squash star Aamir Atlas lit the torch. Later on, players

SYDNEY: Injury-plagued Australian veteran Lleyton Hewitt on Monday said he was counting on a "fresh start" to 2011 at January's Kooyong Classic, hoping to bag an elusive Australian Open crown. Hewitt, 29, is playing in the Kooyong Classic for the first time in his professional career in a revamped preparation for the Open, which he was runner-up at in 2005 and has reached the round of 16 twice since.
Austria's Jurgen Melzer, ranked 11th, and Russian Nikolay Davydenko, 22nd, were

LAHORE: A large portion of lands belonging to schools across Punjab have been illegally occupied by the land mafia while the Punjab government's School Education Department is under pressure to vacate the occupied lands, Pakistan Today has learnt.
The lands have been occupied by influential people from decades in almost all districts of the province including Lahore, Sheikhupura, Gujranwala, Mianwali, Kasur, Rahim Yar Khan and Faisalabad and due to influential personalities and

LAHORE: Nabila Yasmin and Hira Mansur two emerging miniature painters are holding a two person show at the renowned Rohtas 2 gallery, in the heart of Model Town's suburbs.
Where as Nabilas work, deeply introspective, indulges in the intricate, close to heart issues. Hira with her work and the usage of piercing conveys a whole different meaning through her work.
Immersed in objects, crisp in output: Hira Mansur's work is a showcase of a keen eye and well thought endurance to

GUANGZHOU: The Asian Games opened with a spectacular water-themed gala ceremony on Friday, culminating years of planning for an event that is set to reinforce China's regional sporting dominance.
The extravaganza heralds the most ambitious Asiad so far with some 10,000 athletes from 45 countries and territories vying for gold in 42 sports.
The Games run until November 27, with hosts China heavily favoured to top the medal table, and South Korea and Japan battling for second

SINGAPORE: Three-time Major champion Padraig Harrington is looking to continue his return to form at this week's Barclays Singapore Open after ending his two-year title drought in Malaysia last month.
After a practice round in Singapore the Ryder Cup star fancies his chances when the six-million-US-dollar tournament starts Thursday at Sentosa Golf Club.
"I won well three to four weeks ago... in Malaysia, so the form is good," the 39-year-old Irishman said Tuesday. "Looking

WASHINGTON
Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Wednesday urged the United States to open its markets to Pakistani goods for supporting Pakistan's economic recovery and sustained development.
"We need trade, not just aid," he told a distinguished gathering at Brookings Institute, a Washington-based think-tank, as the US-Pakistan strategic dialogue enters its second day. "We do not seek dependency, we seek economic viability," the foreign minister said in a wide-ranging

MUMBAI: After following her on Twitter, Priyanka Chopra's fans can now get a sneak peek into her world through a voice blog, voice chats and an official YouTube channel, but no "personal" talk please, the actress says and adds she is looking forward to constructive criticism of her work and style.
The Bollywood actress started the Twitter craze by being one of the first celebrities to join the microblogging site. Now she has gone a step further to make her presence felt in the