ISLAMABAD - Pakistan No 1 tennis player Sarah Mahboob, who is currently in Pakistan on summer vacations from University of New Mexico, where she is on a tennis scholarship in an exclusive interview with TheNation on Thursday told to this scribe that she is currently number 3 out of 10 member women university team and improving her game and also going strong in her studies.
Sarah said that it was unfortunate that despite Pakistan number 1 women player for almost 6 years she had not got a single sponsorship for her studies. She praised and thanked General Arif Hasan, President Pakistan Olympic Association, who had sponsored 5 ITF World Junior trips to different parts of world. She said she was to appear in 25 to 30 international tournaments every year, which would have cost around USD 1,00,000 and if her father was not her coach then expenses could have cross  the figure of USD 1,50,000.
She said that she participated in international events on her own pocket as her father Mahboob Khan borne all the expenses. Sarah further said that she enjoy full scholarship and bearing USD 12,000 fee yearly and generating the amount from their own resources. Sarah had already won 59 national titles in her career as a teenage player, said she is always available for the country when ever the federation required her services for the Fed Cup. She rebuffed the claims of elements those claim she can't play in Pakistan, the fact is that she just had to inform university about the expenses on the events and the prize money earned from participating in those events, it is NCAA rule for every student/athlete who enjoys university scholarship.
In fact the only time the student/athlete is barred from taking part in any professional event is the time frame after the person receives the offer and the joining of the university, she said.
Sarah said she give all the credit of her achievements to her father and coach Mahboob Khan as this is because of his tireless efforts and extra attention on her carrier that he enjoy so much success in a very short span of time. Sarah was the youngest ever national ladies champion at the age of 14, and is the only female athlete so far who had won the prestigious national youth award in 2008 conferred on her by Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani.
Sarah also selected by the IOC to attend the 2008 Beijing Olympics as a participant/trainee. Sarah said that she had started carrier in Islamabad Club. She said she had requested Islamabad Club administrator Nargis Sethi to look in to my case on merit and sanction a substantial amount to cover her University expenses. She is in dire need of money these days any help in these times would bear fruit in near future, Sarah concluded.
Meanwhile talking to this correspondent Mahboob Khan, coach of Sarah who also helped numerous players in achieving their goals, such as Natasha Afridi, Anusha Aslam, Sara Mansoor, Go Mazhar, Mohsin Ali Khan, Syed Haider and many others said: “We bring all these players to a certain stage after that the role of parents and federation starts, when we talk about tennis we must remember two things, players and coaches, they should receive maximum patronage from the federation and mainly from the sponsors,” Mahboob stated.
He said, PTF should follow Pakistan Cricket Board that had acquired specialist coaches in every department to bring revolution in tennis, Mahboob concluded.