ISLAMABAD - Pakistan's longest serving No 1 tennis player Aqeel Khan is all set to make record-breaking appearance in the Asian Games starting in September this year.
This will fifth time that Aqeel will represent the country in the prestigious event. Aqeel first appeared in 1998, then in 2002, in 2006, in 2010 and now in 2014. It is a new national record, this was informed by Aqeel Khan while talking to The Nation on Friday.
“Tennis always remain my passion and I have always preferred my country ahead of everything. I could have left the country long time ago, as I had a number of offers from various countries, but I rejected all those preferring to just serve Pakistan in the best possible way,” he added.
“The Asian Games will start from September 18 in Korea and I am preparing well for this mega event. I have also set eyes on all-important Davis Cup Asia-Oceania Group-II final against Thailand and have already started my preparations for that fixture and we will try our best to win the tie. Pakistan has reached in the final of Group-II after a gap of eight years and this is our best chance to win the tie and qualify for the Group-I next year,” Aqeel stated.
“I personally feel 2014 is my best year in Davis Cup among the 16 years I had played for the country. I helped the country win important fixtures against Vietnam and Philippines. Now, I am completely focusing on the task ahead and I am quite confident with the availability of Pakistan's one and only international tennis player Aisamul Haq Qureshi, we stand bright chances of winning the tie. Although Thailand is a very tough nut to crack and especially at their own backyard, yet conditions will be much better than the one we had faced in Philippines,” he added.
“I hope the Pakistan Tennis Federation (PTF) will pick a very strong team for the all-important do-or-die final against Thailand. We can't afford any leniency in this regard as any loophole can cost us dearly. I will request PTF president Syed Kaleem Imam to start training camp for the Davis Cup bound team soon after Eid,” he said.
“I have long dream of establishing a tennis academy in Islamabad and Karachi. I have tendered several requests to Sindh admin to allocate a piece of land in Karachi and also to Capital Development Authority (CDA) to allocate a land in Islamabad but all my requests went in vain. Pakistan is blessed with natural talent and I want to produce future tennis stars for the country who may win laurels for it at international level. It is my humble request to government, Prime Minister, Chief Minister Sindh and CDA chairman to allocate a piece of land in Karachi and Islamabad, so I may start my mission of producing future tennis stars,” Aqeel concluded.