Samir Iftikhar the tennis prodigy from Pakistan (part 1)
Tennis is one sport that the Pakistani sports authorities have long neglected, however, the sub-continent and Pakistan has been consistently churning out talent.
This talent often finds its way on a road to oblivion with many talented players choosing not to take the sport seriously since they feel that it would not turn out to be a viable profession for them. Many local players like Aqeel Khan due to lack of funds
and facilities have grown old, not making much of an impact on the international level.
Aisam ul Haq had to face numerous obstacles during his journey to stardom with very little support meted out to him by the Pakistan tennis federation. However, lately the PTF has started to take more interest in potential tennis stars for the country. With
their latest investment in a shining star, Samir Iftikhar, who is the cousin of the young Tennis maestro from Pakistan, Aisam ul Haq. This young 18-year old is based in England however has chosen to represent Pakistan on the international level.
He hails from a tennis family, with his father Tayyab Khwaja, and grandfather, Khwaja Iftikhar, having represented Pakistan in the Davis Cup. Therefore, tennis runs in his blood. He has been making waves in the World junior tennis circuit recently winning
his first international tournament when the 18-year old prodigy defeated the Indian Arjun Pandey in the Oman International Junior Tennis tournament. Having improved his rankings from 1300 to 271 in less than a year, this tennis star aims to break the 100 barrier
some time soon.
With the shadow of cousin Aisam bearing its weight on his young shoulders, Samir feels that instead of feeling the burden he in fact finds Aisam as a source of inspiration for his game. The young tennis player was initially interested in pursuing cricket
professionally.
However, he was advised by his father to pursue tennis. He soon followed suit and is proud to have made the choice. He has trained considerably hard since then to polish himself into the player that he is today.
“Cricket bores me now, I like tennis much better and I think it was the best choice for me”, he says.
Aisam ul Haq Qureshi said he treats Samir like a younger brother and tries hard to help him whenever they end up playing together. “He’s a very hardworking kid, I never practiced as hard as he does when I was his age”.
It is interesting to note, that Aisam at the young age of 18 had also made waves in the junior tennis circuit, having defeated American Andy Roddick.
He has won two back to back juniors titles and with the wins has managed to improve his rankings from 312 to 275 in the world. In addition to winning the first maiden singles ITF Juniors title, Iftikhar also managed to clinch the doubles title as well.
The young tennis star has eight tournaments lined up with three in Europe, two in Central Asia and three in UAE during October, November, and till the end of the year. Despite the fact that such a busy schedule might take its toll on his fitness he feels
that he has been working hard to maintain his fitness.
The Pakistan Tennis Federation has been very supportive of Iftikhar, saying that he has had to face no hurdles during his career and the PTF has sponsored a number of his International tours and campaigns.
“Without such support I cannot compete in international tournaments and PTF is trying to groom junior players and ensure their participation in tournaments abroad”.
Samir has managed to get an endorsement from the premium sports manufacturer HEAD NV and quite recently he signed up for their “Team Elite”, which is a global sponsorship programme aimed at promoting young talent in more than 40 countries around the globe.
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