Aisamul Haq, Aqeel Khan to call on President Musharraf
Pakistan Times Sports Desk

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s newest sporting heroes, tennis duo Aisamul Haq and Aqeel Khan, will call on President Gen. Pervez Musharraf on Tuesday.

Aisam and Aqeel capped off a string of victories on tennis courts during the past months with a landmark Davis Cup triumph on Sunday.

They will be awarded handsome cash prizes for their feats during the meeting with the head of the state, it was learnt.

Also to be present on the occasion will be the President of Pakistan Olympic Association, Lt. Gen. Syed Arif Hasan, the President of Pakistan Tennis Federation, Sen. Syed Dilawar Abbas, and the Director General of Pakistan Sports Board, Brig. Arif Mehmud Siddiqui.

The duo steered Pakistan to the play-offs of Davis Cup world group—a feat achieved for the firs time in the country’s tennis history—with Sunday’s triumph over Chinese Taipei in the last Group-1 tie of the Davis Cup Asia-Oceania Zone.

“Its’ an achievement parallel to any other sporting glory in the country’s history”, said former Pakistan Davis Cup captain, Inamul Haq, while congratulating the PTF President, Sen. Syed Dilawar Abbas on this unique success.

The Davis Cup is a competition played under the banner of International Tennis Federation as a team, rather than individual, event among its member countries.

Only the top tennis-playing countries of the world like USA, France, Sweden, Italy, Spain etc. get to play in the elite world group of Davis Cup, through qualifiers.

Before qualifying for the world group, Pakistan team had been retaining its place in the Group-1 of Davis Cup Asia-Oceania Zone for the last four years, which itself was unparalleled in the country’s tennis history.

Also hailing the victory were the President of Pakistan Olympic Association, Lt. Gen. Syed Arif Hasan, the Director General of Pakistan Sports Board, Brig. Arif Mehmud Siddiqui, as well as such celebrated former tennis players as Hamidul Haq and Mushaf Zia.

In fact, it were the duo of Aisamul Haq and Aqeel Khan who grabbed three gold and one bronze medal for Pakistan in the first- ever Islamic Solidarity Games held in Saudi Arabia last month.

Messrs. Aisam and Aqeel began their road to world group success with victory over fancied New Zealand at Islamabad Club courts in September last year.

Their next triumph came early this year when they beat strong-looking Thailand at the grass courts in Lahore although former no.11 Paradorn Srichaphan himself led the Thai campaign in the Group-1 tie of Davis Cup Asia-Oceania Zone, against Pakistan.

Now that the Chinese Taipei have also been beaten, Pakistan will next take on probably a European team in July in the first of two ties of world group playoffs.

Exactly who will be Pakistan’s opponents in the first tie will be known on Tuesday when ITF takes out draws in London.

Aqeel for KC Summer Tennis

Just a few days after helping Pakistan to a historic Davis Cup triumph over Chinese Taipei, national champion Aqeel Khan would be seen in action in his hometown as he has been top seeded for the KC Summer National Tennis Championship starting here at the Karachi Club from next week.

A Sindh Tennis Association (STA) spokesman said in Karachi on Monday that Aqeel has confirmed his participation in the Rs150,000 tournament scheduled to kick off from May 10.

Apart from the Aqeel, who is the reigning Pakistan No. 1, other top players to participate in the KC Summer Championship include another Davis Cupper Jalil Khan.

The STA would organise the tournament, which has been sanctioned by the Pakistan Tennis Federation (PTF) and carries national ranking points. The STA official said that Seema Manghi, an official of a public welfare organisation, has sponsored the tournament.

The tournament includes competitions in various categories including men’s singles, ladies’ singles, juniors (under-17) singles, boys’ (under-15) singles, boys’ (under-13) singles, men’s doubles and mixed doubles.

The lion’s share of the prize money would go the men’s singles event with its winner bagging a cash purse of Rs 30,000. The ladies’ singles winner would get Rs10,000

The organising committee of the tournament includes Seema Manghi (president), Alamgir Sheikh, Yasin bandeali (vice presidents), Jamil Khan (tournament director), Zahid Hussain (organising secretary), Khalid Rahmani (referee) and M. Ayub (media secretary).●