LAHORE: Former secretary Punjab Lawn Tennis Association (PLTA) Bashir Gill has urged the Pakistan Tennis Federation (PTF) to groom young players for the Davis Cup ties instead of wasting money on bidding for the Fed Cup.

“The PTF has not been able to produce even a single player of Davis Cup standard during the last nine years,” Bashir said while talking to Dawn.

Instead of planning for grandiose projects like staging the Fed Cup in Pakistan which costs around Rs5m, the PTF should focus on the development of new players as the federation presently has no replacements for the likes of Aisam-ul-Haq and Aqeel Khan, he noted.

Bashir said Senator Anwar Saifullah as president PTF groomed both Aisam and Aqeel, adding that other PTF bodies have failed to produce any players to follow in the footsteps of Aisam and Aqeel.

They (Aisam and Aqeel) have passed their peak time, which warrants the grooming of young players, added the former secretary PLTA.

Recalling the dismal show by Pakistan team in the last Davis Cup tie against South Korea, Bashir said it exposed all the facts.

“We all know what happened in South Korea in the quarter-finals of the Asia Oceania Group-II Davis Cup tie last month. Wewere whitewashed 4-0,” he lamented.

However, Bashir suggested that the PTF should select five, six talented juniors, put them under good coaches, give them financial assistance, pay reasonable remuneration to the coaches and monitor the programme regularly on scientific basis.

Development of new players of requisite standard may take five to seven years, he concluded.