KARACHI, March 4: Pakistan rising tennis star Anoosha Aslam said on Saturday that she wanted to emulate Indian tennis icon Sania Mirza.

Anoosha caused another upset when she defeated second seed Sara Mansoor to clinch U-17 title in the ongoing national hard court tennis championship at the Karachi gymkhana.

She said there was no respect for tennis in the country and was of the view that Pakistan needed players like Sania Mirza to boost the sport in the country.

“I want to follow the footprints of Sania Mirza who generated great interest for tennis in cricket-crazy India.”

Anoosha said that she underwent hard training for last six months to achieve the title and pledged to maintain hard work to bring laurels to the country at the international level.

However, unseeded Anoosha, 16, who had surprised everyone following her triumphs against Pakistan No. 1 Sara Mehboob and top-seed Sehar Khwaja earlier in the tournament was herself surprised with her extra ordinary performance.—PPI