April 26, 2006	Wednesday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 27, 1427

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ISLAMABAD, April 25: The Pakistan Tennis Federation's (PTF) has decided on Tuesday to hold the junior Fed Cup camp on clay for a tournament which is to be contested on hard courts.

Interestingly the trials for next month's event in Thailand were organised on the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) hard courts earlier this month.

Coach Mahboob Khan who is to accompany the team told Dawn that although the players would train on clay, they would quickly be able to switch to hard surface in Thailand.

"We will have four full practice sessions in Thailand before the start of the tournament, and I don't think the players will have problems."

However Mahboob, whose daughter Sara Mahboob is a top member of the team, could not justify holding of trials on hard courts.

The trials earlier had been reduced to a farce with only three girls turning up that contradicted PTF's claims that it had raised a pool of talented players.

Meanwhile, Mariam Rahim, former Pakistan No. 1 criticised PTF for poor standards of women's tennis. "They are just not doing enough for promoting the game."

Mariam said that women hardly got an opportunity to gain international exposure. "There's no Pakistani participation in the seniors Fed Cup for years now," she pointed out.

"My sisters — Myra Rahim and Nida Rahim — had to quit the sport because of lack of support from the PTF. The officials have no respect for the players."