At a neutral venue: PTF collaborates with India to hold U18 championships

10 Pakistani tennis players will compete in New Delhi starting Nov 3.

KARACHI: The Pakistan Tennis Federation (PTF), due to its inability to hold International Tennis Federation (ITF) tournaments, has joined hands with India to organise the ITF Pakistan U18 Championships from November 3 in New Delhi.

PTF President Kaleem Imam confirmed that at least 10 Pakistani players will compete at the two ITF championships. The first event will begin November 3, while the second will take place a week later to conclude on November 16.

“Our players are in much need of international exposure,” Imam told The Express Tribune. “We can’t hold ITF events because we are rated on level-4 in regards to security, which means it’s unsafe for foreign players to come here.

“We’ve tried to at least hold junior ITF tournaments in the country but since that suggestion was refused by the ITF, we proposed to hold the event at a neutral venue. Therefore, New Delhi serves us perfectly.”

Imam explained that Asian Tennis Federation President Aneel Khana had offered India as a neutral venue to the PTF, with the total cost summing up to $12,000.

And the PTF chief believes this will be a great opportunity for the players to earn ITF ranking points.

“India has a lot of talented players and ours haven’t even been able to make it to the qualifying rounds. So with this event, we’ll have four wild cards in the main round and six in the qualifying rounds.”

Meanwhile, tournament referee Arif Qureshi said that so far the PTF have received 132 entries for the championships, while adding that one Indian player would also receive a wild card as we are using their facilities for the event.

Players in the squad include Muzammil Murtaza, Mudassir Murtaza, Syed Nofil Kaleem, Arham Atiq, Ilham Khan, Abdal Haider, Zaid Mujahid, Rida Khalid, Alina Aftab and Maheen Aftab.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 27^th, 2014.

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