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| August 9, 2002 | Friday | Jamadi-ul-Awwal 29,1423 |
PTF invites two US-based players for training camp
ISLAMABAD, Aug 8: The Pakistan Tennis Federation (PTF) has invited two players based in America to attend a training camp in Peshawar ahead of next month’s Davis Cup Asia Oceania Group II final against China.
Maj (Retd) Rashid Khan, the PTF secretary, speaking to Dawn Thursday said that Hassan Akmal and Ramiz Junaid, both Pakistanis studying in America, have been asked to join the camp.
“Akmal has told us that he will try and come over while Junaid will let us know soon,” Rashid said. “They are both very talented players and we want them to appear in the trials.”
The tennis managers had also called up Akmal in 1999 but he failed to impress then. However Rashid said that his game had now improved.
The PTF has already named Asim Shafik, Aisamul Haq, Aqeel Khan, Nomi Qamar and Ahmed Wala for the camp starting on September 1 along with a few junior players including Shahzad Khan and Shahzad Samad. “The younger players have been called up so that they get to train with the seniors, although they won’t be eligible for selection.”
The Davis Cup tie is slated for Sept 20 to 22 and is to be played on grass.
Menwhile, two ITF Junior Tournaments which were to be held in Karachi this October have been shifted to Islamabad because of security concerns, a top tennis official said Thursday.
Maj (Retd) Rashid Khan, secretary of the Pakistan Tennis Federation said that the host association in Sindh had requested them it would not be possible for them to stage the tournaments because of security and the national elections.
“The tournaments will now take place at the Islamabad Club and we are making arrangements in this regard,” Rashid said.
However insiders say that the Sindh Tennis Association had asked for money from the PTF to stage the tournaments, a request that was turned down on the pretext that they find their own sponsors.
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