Pakistan to host Asian U16 Tennis Championship Qualifiers next year

The Pakistan Tennis Federation (PTF) on Tuesday, announced to have successfully secured the hosting rights of the Asian Tennis Federation (ATF) U16 Championship Qualifying event, scheduled to be played next year.

“Asian Tennis Federation was requested by President PTF to give us hosting rights of next year’s Asian U16 Championship’s qualifying event. ATF has very kindly agreed to it,” announced PTF.

“This will be for the first time ever that such a multi country event will be hosted by us in Pakistan and will give a great opportunity to our U/16 tennis players to compete with leading Asian countries on our own courts,” it added.

The PTF further shared that their president Aisam-ul-Haq, since assuming the role, has been actively pursuing various initiatives to develop and boost the game of tennis in Pakistan.

During his recent trip to London, Aisam met the International Tennis Federation (ITF) President David Haggerty and ATF President Yuriy Polskiy in a bid to receive their support and approval for a number of projects.

As a result, the international tennis body not only gave its consent to let PTF hold four ITF events in Pakistan but will also provide a 50 per cent grant to ensure the events proceed smoothly.

Furthermore, the ITF has also agreed to give a subsidy to the PTF for constructing covered courts at the National Tennis Center in Islamabad.

In addition to that, the ATF will grant Pakistan to send one coach to their international coaches conference and will provide the opportunity to two young players to get one-month training in Kazakhstan.

President PTF Aisam-ul-Haq also briefed the ITF about the development activities of wheelchair Tennis in Pakistan. The international tennis body lauded the initiative and offered to provide coaches and staff for further development.

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