July 30, 2003	Wednesday	Jumadi-ul-Awwal 29, 1424

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ISLAMABAD, July 29: Former Davis Cup player Hameedul Haq on Tuesday while greeting the Pakistan Tennis Federation (PTF) on being awarded ‘ATF Award 2002’ for good performance said that more needed to be done this year.

“The award, for the fine showing of its players in international competitions goes to show that the PTF took sincere steps last year to promote the game,” Hameed told Dawn.

Pakistan earned promotion to Group I of the Davis Cup competition in 2002 besides winning two ITF Junior Tournaments with Hameed himself capturing the Asian Veterans title. On top of that, leading player Aisamul Haq claimed three doubles ATP Challenger titles while also qualifying for the third round in doubles competition at Wimbledon. He became the second Pakistani after Haroon Rahim to have done so.

But Hameed, a former Davis Cup captain felt that not enough was being done this year by the PTF.

“The federation should not rest on their laurels and must look ahead.”

He pointed out that while the PTF president Syed Dilawar Abbas and senior vice president Brig. Khalid Sajjad Khokhar were putting in sincere efforts, others in the federation were getting rusty.

“The spirit, enthusiasm and team effort of the PTF that were so very visible last year are now missing.”

He said that with the important Davis Cup tie against Korea coming up in September, the PTF could have done well by sending players abroad for competing on the satellite circuit. “As far as the senior players are concerned, the entire summer season has gone waste.”