ISLAMABAD: President Pakistan Tennis Federation (PTF) Salim Saifullah Khan and Vice President Squash Federation Air Marshal Shahid Akhtar Alvi separately called on Federal Minister for Inter Provincial Coordination (IPC) Dr. Fehmida Mirza on Monday to seek government’s patronage for uplifting of sports and the players.

Sources said that both the federations have been in a tight corner due to government’s failure to release funds and grants during the last nine months.

Secretary IPC Akbar Durrani and DG PSB Arif Ibrahim were also present in the meetings. During the meetings, issues pertaining to the administrative structure, budget & funding, performance and problems faced by the two federations were discussed.

President Saifullah apprised the Minister on the performance of tennis federation and also highlighted its efforts to bring Davis Cup to Pakistan after twelve years. He also highlighted PTF’s role in initiating wheelchair tennis in the country and the importance of the Government’s support for promotion of tennis. He said out of the box solutions must be sorted to deal with the problems of funding. Idea of establishing a Sports University and ideas to generate funds from different sources were also discussed.

Sources said that President PTF told the minister that federation has been facing acute shortage of funds. He added that upcoming Davis Cup tie against India will be held in Pakistan in September this year and the federation required big funding to send at least two Pakistani players including Aqeel Khan and Mohammad Muzamil to Europe and England for training.

Sources said that Saifullah told the minister that federation has secured visas for these two players and now government’s support is required to send them abroad for training. Sources said that minister assured the PTF head that government will look into this issue.

Meanwhile, Vice President of Squash Federation Air Marshal Shahid Akhtar Alvi told the Minister that Pakistan Air Force has been supporting squash players since long, but from its own sources. “But without the support of government, the federation could not get the desired results that could help restore lost glory in squash,” he said.

Sources said that Alvi also told the minister that squash federation has been making efforts for producing good results and during the last few years, Pakistani players won many internationalsquash events. He, however, said that the winning players, who won medals for Pakistan last year has not yet received no incentive from the federal government. Sources said that those players, who won bronze medal in last years’ Asian Games held in Indonesia and gold medal in Junior Asian Championship still waiting to get reward from the federal government.

Sources said that PSF Vice President also urged the government to increase pool of players in the country by investing in school and college level sports. He said that Egypt has 55000 regular players while Malaysia has around 25000 regular players but in Pakistan there are hardly 600 to 800 (both regular and irregular) players.

According to a press release issued by IPC ministry, during the meeting it was agreed to establish squash courts in Gilgit-Baltistan and North Waziristan. Dr. Fehmida Mirza appreciated the achievements of the Federations and acknowledged the fact that despite the constraints in resources and , both the federations are contributing well. She also assured of the Government’s support and asked the Federations to underline their priorities regarding training of the players and their requirements for participation in international events.

Published in Dawn, May 21st, 2019