ISLAMABAD: Activities of women tennis in Pakistan are facing continued downfall and need urgent attention by authorities, says Shahida Kausar Farooq, Chairperson Subh-e-Nau.

She said that it was sad that national tennis events are missing female participation due to lack of entries. She cited the example of the recently concluded national event at Wah Cantt where only eight female players registered themselves for Ladies Singles out of which five players backed out at the eleventh hour. She added that only two girls from Pakistan were taking part in the ITF Juniors Tennis being played at Islamabad, which was inappropriate for the host country.

The chairperson SN, through a press release, said that due to very low or no representation of females in sports bodies in the country, “The voice of our female sections is not that strong as much as it should be,” and added that even though there were tennis academies and coaching centres in the country, no female players or coaches were being produced who could serve their country.

She said that the Pakistan Tennis Federation should run awareness campaigns for female players to participate in international, national or local events and provide them the required friendly environment to compete.

Mrs. Farooq said that it was sad that only one category was included in national-level events which was the Ladies Singles, so younger players hesitated to take part where they knew they would be facing much experienced and elder opponents. She added that Ladies Doubles, Girls U-18, U-14 and U-10 should be mandatory for all national events to take tennis to the grass-root level for female players.

She appreciated the PTF management for increasing the number of events in the country and said that it should also focus on women tennis as well.

She said that it was a welcoming step that the PTF had taken two female members on board. However, she said that those members should be given a separate office where female players could go and have their problems solved without any hesitation.

Published in Dawn, November 9th, 2018