Kamran first to get ITF’s Level-3 certification

KARACHI: Kamran Khalil has become the first Pakistani tennis coach to obtain Level-3 ITF coaching certification.
He cleared four out of six examinations held in Spain in April 2012. In the second half of this month, he cleared the remaining examinations.
He got a scholarship from a joint venture of ITF and International Olympic Committee (IOC) under their component of Olympic Solidarity in April 2012.
Kamran has been associated with PTF for around two years, coaching the junior teams of the federation at his academy at Islamabad Tennis Complex.
He has a Master’s degree in physical education.
Talking to ‘The News’ he said he is currently working in his individual capacity and the players he has coached include Sara Mansoor, Nofil Kaleem, Ahmed Chohdri, and Abdal Haider.
“I am a national coordinator of PTF’s School Tennis Initiative project. The aim of this project is to promote tennis at school level, so that we can increase our tennis base in the country,” added Kamran.
He said he is ready to join Junior Development Programme which the PTF is initiating for the first time in its history with the help of International Tennis Federation (ITF) as a coordinator.
The ITF’s junior development programme has been producing new talent in regional countries for a long time. The PTF has decided to start it for the first time in order to create a new pool of players for Davis Cup ties.
Under the programme the PTF will select 50 junior players, boys and girls, from all over the country for training in Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar, and Islamabad.
The programme will be run for two years in cycles.
The juniors will get training at Modern Club in Karachi, Peshawar Club in Peshawar (PTF has got permission from Pakistan Air Force to train four players at the courts of the club), PTF Complex in Islamabad, and Bagh-e-Jinnah in Lahore.