ISLAMABAD, April 9: Ejazul Haq, Senior Vice President of Pakistan Muslim League (QA), has emerged as the strong favourite to take over as the president of Pakistan Tennis Federation (PTF) in elections to be held next week.

Although Maj Gen (Retd) Saeeduz Zafar, chairman Railways and Syed Dilawar Abbas, head of the Islamabad Tennis Association are also running for the post of president, insiders say Ejaz already has things in control.

With the nominations having been submitted, Ejaz’s panel has Ali Ahmed Tabatabai as secretary, Khawaja Saeed Hai and Nasir Munir as the senior vice presidents, Jamal Mirza for vice president, Khalid Rehmani running for joint secretary, Arif Qureshi (treasurer) and Sanaullah Aman as the associate secretary.

Ejaz is said to have mustered enough support from the affiliated units that should see him at the helm come April 15. The Pakistan Veterans Association, Sindh Tennis Association, International Club of Pakistan, PIA, Wapda, NWFP, Balochistan, the three services and POF, have all assured him of their support.

Ejaz was nominated by Sindh Tennis Association, Pakistan Veterans Association and International Club of Pakistan while Saeeduz Zafar’s nomination came from Railways and Dilawar Abbas was nominated by Islamabad Tennis Association.

The panel headed by Dilawar has Brig. Khalid Sajjad Khokhar and Saeed Hai (senior vice presidents), Maj. (Retd) Abdul Rashid Khan (secretary), Arif Qureshi (treasurer) and Muhammad Khalil as joint secretary.

The third panel with Saeeduz Zafar includes Bashir Gill (senior vice president), Mustafa Ramday (secretary) and Maj (Retd) Abdul Rashid Khan (treasurer).

The PTF is currently headed by Anwar Saifullah Khan.

Meanwhile, president of Pakistan Tennis Federation (PTF) Anwar Saifullah Khan has ordered an inquiry to unearth facts about a laser printer that was removed from the federation’s offices.

The printer, said to be worth Rs 20500, was replaced by an ordinary one at the PTF’s headquarters in Islamabad.

The point came up for discussion during the PTF’s General Council meeting held at the Islamabad Club Tuesday which led to Saifullah ordering the office administrator Sher Khan Awan to present a report in this regard.

The tennis bosses formed a committee that will have a representative each from Sindh, Punjab and NWFP to finalise the list of tournaments for the second half of the year.

Another committee with Ali Ahmed Tabatabai, Arif Qureshi and Sher Khan Awan as members will consider giving incentives to Davis Cup players who beat Taiwan last week in Lahore in an Asia Oceania Group II tie and also to those who make the Cup teams in future.

A third committee comprising the same members has been assigned the task of finalising a uniform for players going abroad to compete in ITF tournaments.

The General Council also increased the tenure of its office- bearers from two years to four and also discussed and appreciated the performance of the Pakistan team that defeated Malaysia in February.