ISLAMABAD - Pakistan Tennis Federation (PTF) president Syed Kaleem Imam announced on Thursday that despite limited recourses, Pakistan tennis team would participate in the China championship and all the other major international events.
Talking with The Nation, Kaleem said: “It is my aim to bring Pakistan tennis at par with other Asian powerhouses first, and then take them to new heights in the International Tennis Federation (ITF) circuit during my tenure.”
The PTF chief said for the first time in the history of Pakistan tennis, they had managed to convince the ITF to allow Pakistan play its Davis Cup Asia-Oceania Group-II home tie against New Zealand at neutral venue of Myanmar. “After hectic negotiations, we finally convince the ITF and now Pakistan team, comprising tennis ace Aisam, Aqeel, Yasir and M Abid, is already in Myanmar training hard and getting use to the conditions.”
“Pakistan has a very good chance to beat the Kiwis in Myanmar, as the grass courts suits Pakistan players a lot while a fresh from winning the ATP Masters doubles event in Miami, Aisam is roaring to go while Aqeel is also in very good shape,” he added.
Kaleem said Pakistan had to travel to New Zealand in the past to play its home ties, as they were not willing to tour Pakistan sighting so-called security concerns and had the upper hand in all the previous ties, but now the situation was completely different. The Davis Cup tie will start from today (Friday).
The PTF chief said: “We are grateful to ZTBL for providing jobs to eight of our players but we expect other national and multi-nationals to also lend a helping hand to help the federation and boys to participate in international events which will not only improve the players’ international rankings but also provide them with the much-needed international exposure.”
“As I had earlier promised that the year 2013 would be the year of tournaments and I am working on that plan. We have sent teams for senior and junior Davis Cups, senior and junior Fed Cups and now we are focusing on holding more events in the coming months,” Kaleem concluded.