Bangladesh’s promising youngster Zarif Abrar saw his campaign in the 35th Bangladesh World Tennis Tour Junior J-30 come to an end in the semi-finals, as the 17-year-old fell in straight sets to Thailand’s Aryaphat Likul at the National Tennis Complex in Ramna.
Fresh from winning the boys’ singles crown at the ITF World Tennis Tour Junior J-30 in Rajshahi just six days earlier, Zarif entered the Dhaka event with high hopes of securing back-to-back titles. However, despite an impressive run that included a quarter-final victory over the tournament’s second seed, India’s Shaunak Chatterjee, he was outplayed 6–1, 6–4 by seventh seed Likul, who advanced to the final with a composed display.
Reflecting on the defeat, Zarif admitted that technical issues had hindered his performance. “The opponent played really well while I was a bit off due to some technical problems with my backhand, forehand, and tactical decisions,” he said after the match.
When asked whether overconfidence following his win against Chatterjee had affected him, Zarif dismissed the idea. “Actually not. All players here are at a similar level — it depends on how you perform on the day. I came here confident of winning because I wanted to take the title,” he explained.
The 11th-grade student expressed satisfaction with his overall showing across the two tournaments. “It was good enough, and I’m happy with my performance. I think I had the capability to win in Dhaka too, but I couldn’t,” he said, adding that he will now focus on the upcoming Davis Cup in Bahrain. Zarif also revealed plans to return to Florida in February to train under renowned coach Ashley Hobson at the Hobson Performance Tennis Academy, where he has trained previously.
Meanwhile, in doubles action, India’s Shaunak Chatterjee and Amrit Dhankar clinched the boys’ title with a straight-sets win over China’s Chuan Ding and Kezhi Li. The Indian duo prevailed 2–0, edging a tight first set in a tiebreak before sealing the second 6–4.
In the girls’ doubles final, Maldives’ Ara Aasal Azeem and India’s Sanmitha Harini claimed the championship after a thrilling contest that went to a tiebreak. They took the first set 6–4, dropped the second 1–6 to China’s Tianran and Zikan, but bounced back to win the decider 10–4 and lift the title.
