May 17, 2006	Wednesday	Rabi-us-Sani 18, 1427

Please Visit our Sponsor (Ads open in separate window)

ISLAMABAD, May 16: Mahboob Khan, non-playing captain of the Pakistan Junior Fed Cup team that finished with a wooden spoon in the Asia Oceania qualifying round has dismissed reports of a tiff with coach Rashid Malik.

Speaking on his return from Bangkok where the tournament was contested he said that the atmosphere in the Pakistan camp remained cordial and no such thing happened. Earlier reports had indicated that all did not go well between the two during their stay in Thailand.

Mahboob whose team took last place in the 16-team competition said that although the Pakistani girls were good technically, they lacked in physical fitness.

"The other countries are miles ahead of us and we as a nation have to do a lot more to cover that gap."

The Pakistan team that took part in the tournament comprised Mahboob's daughter Sara Mahboob, Aamna Hameed, Quratul Ain and Mehak Khokhar who was taken along as the fourth member.

Mahboob, who is a coach at the Islamabad Club, insisted that there were lessons to be learnt from the defeats.

"We need to give the girls plenty of international exposure besides providing them opportunities of playing competitive tennis at home."

He pointed out that the team had got some international flavour and the girls now at least know what it was like competing in a big event.

But he added that the players needed to train harder to make an impression.

"Fearing defeat the Pakistan Tennis Federation (PTF) may well have chosen not to send the team to Thailand but it is good that they did."

Pakistan lost twice to Sri Lanka besides being beaten by Japan, Korea, Taiwan and the Philippines.

The Fed Cup team's poor performance came on the heels of an equally disappointing show by the Junior Davis Cup boys who claimed 15th place in the tournament in Malaysia.

Critics say that one of the reasons for the humiliation suffered in Thailand was that the PTF chose to hold trials on hard courts and then switched to clay when the training camp began. Interestingly the tournament was contested on synthetic hard courts.