KARACHI: The KC Jinko Solar National Juniors and Seniors Tennis Championship here at Karachi Club is nearing its conclusion, yet the future of the game looks bleak at least on the basis of the circumstances prevailing currently.

Tennis remains a niche sport in Pakistan, lacking proper recognition, substantial prizes, and fame. Despite this, hundreds of players continue to commit themselves to the sport, enduring physical strain and exhaustion. This raises a question: what motivates them?

Dawn interviewed recently several stakeholders who, on the condition of anonymity, revealed a surprising insight: lucrative scholarships.

According to some prominent young players, many of them are not driven by a passion for tennis or a desire to represent Pakistan internationally. Instead, they view the game as a pathway to obtain foreign scholarships in their respective fields, particularly in Europe or the United States.

Muhammad Khalid Rehmani, vice-president of the Pakistan Tennis Federation (PTF), confirmed this perspective.

“It’s absolutely true. I sign scholarship documents for these players,” Rehmani told Dawn. He clarified that it’s not a lack of motivation but rather a shift in focus once players reach foreign soil.

“Parents and mentors are partly responsible, raising [the] players with a scholarship-oriented mindset. As a federation, we cannot discourage this, as our goal is to improve the lives of players.”

Coaches paint a vivid picture of the challenges faced by budding tennis aspirants.

According to most of the coaches, it’s a rich man’s sport, an underprivileged player in Pakistan is already at a disadvantage as it is impossible for them to play tennis at their own expense. Moreover, the players themselves are also not interested, they emphasised.

They play just to get to the top of juniors’ level and earn a scholarship to leave the country.

Possessing a demoralising attitude, a few of them go as far as refusing to play in sunlight and do not adhere to the recommended six to eight hours of daily practice, the coaches claimed.

According to the players participating in the ongoing National championship, it’s a fact that the ultimate goal is to get a foreign scholarship simply because there are career opportunities abroad in tennis and various other fields.

Interestingly, they also pointed out that the PTF is somewhat responsible for this attitude because the federation literally does not do anything except organising these small-scale local tournaments.

Several players insisted that it’s the PTF duty to arrange sponsors for them which the federation fails to do.

However, in Pakistan, contestants themselves have to find sponsors, the players underlined and regretted that those who have connections and money succeed in finding sponsors whereas the competitors belonging to lower classes mostly remain helpless in this regard.

An under-18 player of the ongoing event in Karachi expressed a similar sentiment, saying, “I’m also playing for a scholarship because, in Pakistan, tennis has no scope.”

Echoing this viewpoint, an under-12 aspirant stated, “For now, my primary goal is to play international tournaments to attract sponsors and meet my expenses. I’m currently ranked fifth in the country and want to represent Pakistan for as long as I can.”

A player who has represented Pakistan at international level, shared a similar view.

“At the level I’m playing, I could easily pursue coaching opportunities abroad. I’m also aiming for a scholarship to leave the country,” he said.

Meanwhile, matches of different categories at the National Juniors and Seniors Tennis Championship were played.

Thursday’s results:

Boys U-18 Singles (semi-finals): Ahtisham Humiyon bt Hamza Asim (Islamabad) 6-2, 6-3; Aboubakar Talha bt Muhammad Salar 6-1, 6-3.

Boys U-14 Singles (quarter-finals): Ruhab Faisal bt Laraib Shamsi 4-0, 4-1; Muzammil Bhand bt Ansarullah 4-0, 4-0.

Ladies singles (semi-finals): Eschelle Asif bt Rumesha 8-6.

35-plus doubles (semi-finals): Talha Waheed/Tanweer Malik bt Shamael Tajamul/Ahmed Iqbal 8-4; Asad Ali Bhagat/Khalid Ali Nazar bt Bilal Anwar/Rizwan Hussain 8-5.

45-plus doubles (semi-finals): Talha Waheed/Asad Ali Bhagat bt Saeed/Yawar 8-2; Imran/Irfan bt Karim Gul/Nouman Farid 8-5.

Boys U-14 doubles (quarter-finals): Laraib Shamsi/Zayed Zaman bt Ali Bachani/Junaid Maher 8-3; Ismail Aftab/Ruhab Faisal bt Abbas/Ansarullah 8-1.

Boys U-18 doubles (quarter-finals): Yahya/Taimoor bt Hasan/Shayan 8-1; Asad Zaman/Aboubakar Talha bt Nabil Qayum/Haziq Areejo 8-1.

Girls U-18 singles (semi-finals): Romesha Malik bt Soraya Bus 6-3, 6-2.

U-12 singles (quarter-finals): Mohammad Muaz bt Muhammad Ali (Hyderabad) 4-2, 4-0; Arsh Imran bt Zayed Zaman 4-1, 5-3.

U-10 singles (pre-quarterfinals): Arsh Imran bt Eman Shahbaz 4-0, 4-0; Ali Zamin bt Qazi Ahyan 5-7, 5-3; Mohammad Ayan bt Azan Imran 4-0, 4-0.

Men’s singles (quarter-finals): Aboubakar Talha bt Salar 8-6; Ahtisham Humiyoon bt Farhan Altaf 8-3; Mahatir Muhammad bt Parbat Kumar 9-7; Hamza Asim bt Asad Zaman 8-6.

Published in Dawn, September 27th, 2024