Pakistan Tennis Federation under fire
Gone are the days when sports were considered holy and their working was the benchmark for the administrative setup, they made money but for the good of the sport not for themselves.
With the passing days sports in Pakistan (especially) have been marred by controversies highlighting all the games within the sports.
As if all the negative publicity of cricket wasn't enough, our tennis federation came out to earn their fifteen minutes of fame.
In some recent events, sports minister Aijaz Jakhrani went all out against the Pakistan Tennis Federation and imposed an ad-hoc committee, for violating its own constitution and the National Sports Policy.
Director General of the Pakistan Sports Board following the orders of his political boss wasted no time in announcing the committee, which had Aftab Hussain Jilani, Federal Minister for Culture as President, Munir Peerzada, former secretary PTF, as secretary
and former Pakistan Davis Cup captain Hameedul Haq as treasurer.
Purpose of it was to scrutinize the Electoral College as per PTF constitution and to hold fair and transparent elections within 90 days.
Elections -- major reason behind the overhauling initiative -- were actually to be conducted by PTF officials on or before April 1, 2010 prolonged their tenure on one pretext or the other.
The decision was at the time was backed by the tennis player Aqeel Khan and some former Davis Cup players and officials.
Aqeel said that every federation should follow the national sports policy and if anything is going against it or against the constitution of that particular federation, the government is bound to move against it.
But the PTF thinks a little different. They went all out against the ministry and decided to take legal action.
PTF retaliated and issued a statement which said that the PTF General Council has debated at length the flashing news coming through media that the Ministry of Sports has imposed an ad-hoc committee on the PTF through the PSB. The General Council has decided
to challenge the decision in a court of law immediately when the notification is received.
Not enough twists to the tales. Well the court came out with the hammer of justice suspending the notification of the federal ministry of sports, through the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) to the delight of PTF.
Federation officials got a new life line as they continue to work on their positions.
Although the dust may have settled on the issue but things still remain ambiguous.
They didn't follow their constitution so be it but what about the fact that they have constantly failed to harbour tennis talent in the country.
The lone flag bearer of Pakistan on the international stage, Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi, after all his achievements has been left hanging to continue on his own. It is a shame that the sponsors and federation are still not coming up to sponsor the upcoming talent
of Pakistan.
Aisam’s recent heroics at Flushing Meadows triggered the attraction of youth to follow the game of Tennis instead of choosing their career in Cricket and Hockey. Aisam became the first Pakistani player to reach a grand slam final and what was really amazing
about his dream tournament was he went onto play in both doubles and mix doubles final but was unlucky to end on a losing side in both the finals.
The Federation, sponsors and sports ministry will all be responsible if Pakistan fails to move one step further after Aisam’s inspirational performance.
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