Tennis team’s Asiad is already over

RAWALPINDI: Pakistan’s participation in the tennis event of the 18th Asian Games ended only two days into the tournament — just in time for the whole of the squad to spend Eid-ul-Azha at home with their families.

The country was represented by four men and as many women players who travelled to the Indonesian city of Palembang without a captain or coach. They featured in men’s singles and doubles, women’s singles and doubles and mixed doubles. And all they could achieve was just two wins in 12 matches overall.

The tennis tournament started on August 19, a day after the opening ceremony, and it was over for Pakistan on the 20th when the pair of Aqeel Khan and Abid Ali Akbar were humbled 6-3, 6-1 by the Chinese Taipei team of Hsieh Chengpeng and Yang Tsung-Hua at the JSC tennis courts in Palembang.

Pakistan started brightly with two wins on the opening day; Aqeel Khan and Abid Ali Akbar comfortably winning their men’s singles matches against their Mongolian and Indonesia opponents, respectively. But that was the only good news from the tennis courts as far as Pakistan’s participation was concerned.

This really should be a point of concern for PTF President Salim Saifullah Khan, who has done a lot of good things for Pakistan tennis to stand on its feet and be counted among the leading teams of Asia.

However, some decisions by the PTF regarding Pakistan team’s participation in the Asian Games have to be questioned.

Both the men’s and women’s teams were named without any trials. The players have to earn their places on the national team sheet, and whoever performs better in trials should get picked. How does one judge the form, fitness and mental readiness of a player without watching them compete against each other in trials?

Shahzad Khan had won two doubles titles in three Futures tournaments held in Pakistan, but he was not named in the squad. He should have at least been given a chance to prove himself in trials.

Presence of a technical mind with the players is also of utmost importance. But somehow, the decision-makers thought that a coach or a non-playing captain would not be of any use in the Asian Games.

Aqeel, subsequently, was made the playing captain. This naturally put double burden on Pakistan’s top player who should have been allowed to concentrate on his personal performance alone.

We have heard the old adage ‘winning and losing are part of the game’ on numerous occasions. And it’s true. But the manner in which you lose also counts. If one goes through the results one can see that barring two or three matches, Pakistan players bowed out of the tournament without showing much of a fight. This should also worry the tennis federation.

A consistence and long term programme for young, budding players is now becoming absolutely imperative for Pakistan. We cannot just be featuring in international tournaments to be mentioned as ‘also-rans’. We need to produce players who can compete and win.

Pakistan players’ results: Men’s singles: First round: Aqeel Khan bt Badrakh Munkhbaatar (Mongolia) 6-1, 6-1; Abid Ali Akbar bt Susanto Ignatius Anthony 7-5, 6-1.

Second round: Denis Istomin (Uzbekistan) bt Aqeel Khan 6-3, 6-1; Lee Duckhee (South Korea) bt Abid Ali Akbar 6-4, 6-2.

Men’s doubles: First round: Denis Istomin & Farrukh Dustov (Uzbekistan) bt Muzammil Murtaza & Mohammad Abid 7-6(5), 6-2; Hsieh Chengpeng & Yang Tsung-Hua (Chinese Taipei) bt Aqeel Khan & Abid Ali Akbar 6-3, 6-1.

Women’s singles: Second round: Kaichen Chang (Chinese Taipei) bt Ushna Suhail 6-3, 6-1; Liang En-Shuo (Chinese Taipei) bt Sara Mansoor 6-1, 6-0.

Women’s doubles: First round: Joleta Budiman & Deria Haliza (Indonesia) bt Sara Mansoor & Ushna Suhail 6-3, 7-6(4); Ankita Raina & Prarthana Thombare (India) bt Sara Mahboob & Mehak Khokhar 6-0, 6-0.

Mixed doubles: Christopher Benjamian Rungkat & Sutjiadi Aldila (Indonesia) bt Muzammil Murtaza & Sara Mahboob 6-3, 6-2; Sonchat Ratiwatana & Kumkhum Luksika (Thailand) bt Mohammad Abid & Ushna Suhail 6-2, 6-0.