‘Nearly impossible for Aisam to qualify for Paris Olympics’

KARACHI: Pakistan has almost no chance to qualify for Olympics 2024 in tennis as no Pakistani player has a singles ranking in the top 1000.

Aisam-ul-Haq has current doubles ranking of 88 but there is no other player in the top 1000, making it impossible for him to qualify based on combined rankings as a doubles team. “But there are possibilities if Aqeel and Aisam as a team go to the Asian Games or Aisam makes it to the top 10 in the doubles ranking. Then he will be free to select any partner,” said Hammad-ul-Haq, a sports analyst based in Netherlands.

He added that Aisam and Aqeel have a great record at the Davis Cup, but recent results have not been good as they have had 2 wins, 3 losses in the past 5 matches. “Aisam's highest doubles ranking was 8th (2011), but making it to the top 10 in the coming year seems challenging given that he is way past his prime,” said Hammad.

He added that there will be five tennis events in Paris Olympics (men's/women's singles, 64 players; men's/women's doubles, 32 teams; mixed doubles, 16 teams) and the the main qualifying criteria will be the ATP (men's)/WTA (women's) rankings of players.

“The rankings on 10th June 2024 will serve as the cut-off point, so the performances in the 52 weeks prior to cut-off date will determine who qualifies (qualification window roughly lasts from June 2023 to June 2024),” said Hammad.

He added that 90% of the tennis players will be selected based on their singles/doubles rankings. The remaining 10 percent spots will mainly be given to winners of continental championships (such as Asian Games) and past Grand Slam winners who cannot qualify based on their rankings.

However, former Secretary PTF Asif Dar blames national tennis authority for this non-qualification. “In the 2012 London Olympics Aisam missed the doubles qualification with Aqeel because Pakistan Tennis Federation couldn't plan and plead his case,” said former Secretary PTF Asif Dar while talking to ‘The News’.

He added that Pakistan has potential in tennis and parents are ready to spend resources but nobody is there to guide them so after some time they get disappointed. “Nurseries are a responsibility of clubs, tehsil, district, and provinces but there are no set-ups between clubs and provinces,” said Asif, adding that after every four years provinces office bearers select themselves for next four years and continue for decades while PTF office bearers come and go mostly on political basis.

“Unless we redress these issues we cannot make any progress and qualify for Olympics. We are one the verge of relegation after the retirement of Aisam and Aqeel,” said Asif.