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| May 11, 2006 | Thursday | Rabi-us-Sani 12, 1427 |
Dismal show by Pakistan women, juniors
ISLAMABAD, May 10: The Pakistan Junior Fed Cup team competing in Thailand has suffered successive defeats in the tournament that began on Monday.
The side comprising Sara Mahboob, Aamna Hameed, Quratul Ain and Mehak Khokhar lost to Japan and Korea while they were playing Sri Lanka in their third match on Wednesday.
Fourth seed Japan thrashed Pakistan 3-0 with Kurumi Nara blanking Aamna Hameed 6-0, 6-0 and Shiho Akata beating Sara, the country's No. 1 player 6-1, 6-0.
Later she teamed up with Yuki Tanaka to hammer Aamna and Sara 6-0, 6-0.
In the other match Korea, the No 5 seeds, also flogged the Pakistanis 3-0 in which Mi Rae Ham edged Aamna 6-4, 6-2 while Sung Hee Han thrashed Sara 6-0, 6-1.
In the subsequent doubles, Sung Hee and Yoon Young Jeong crushed Sara and Quaratul Ain 6-0, 6-0.
The defeats highlighted the state of women's tennis in Pakistan which according to former national No. 1 Mariam Rahim has been continuously ignored.
She accused the Pakistan Tennis Federation (PTF) of not doing enough to promote the women's sport and called for more international participation.
"There has been no Pakistani participation in the seniors Fed Cup or any other international event for years now," she claimed.
Contrary to PTF's claims that it had formed a group of talented women players, only three players turned up for the trials ahead of the Junior Fed Cup and all three were selected.
Also the PTF blundered by organising the trials on hard courts and chose to hold the training camp on clay for reasons best known to them.
The current tournament is being contested on synthetic courts.
Meanwhile the junior Davis Cup team arrived home on Tuesday morning after taking part in the tournament in Malaysia where they finished 15th.
The team had Nasir Mushtaq, Khurrum Nazir and Ahmed Aslam.
The boys played five matches in all and lost four. They were beaten by Korea, Indonesia, Philippines and the UAE. The side's only victory came against Vietnam.
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