PTF imparts tennis training to 800 kids

KARACHI: Pakistan Tennis Federation (PTF) has exposed 800 children to tennis so far this year under its Junior Tennis Initiative (JTI) programme.

It has been learnt that PTF in its quarterly performance report to International Tennis Federation (ITF) said that it had introduced tennis to 800 kids across the country.

“Our target for 2016 is to introduce tennis to 2000 kids, while the goal for next year is to match the wonderful success of JTI programme of Sri Lanka where thousands of school-going children are being exposed to tennis under this initiative,” said PTF secretary Khalid Rehmani while talking to ‘The News’.

“Our JTI programme is currently operational in Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad and Peshawar. It was operational only in Islamabad before my election as the PTF secretary,” said Khalid.

He added that they were planning to take this programme to Gilgit-Baltistan after Eid. “We met junior tennis players from the area at the recent Youth Games in Islamabad. Their interest induced us to take this JTI to their area,” added Khalid.

Pakistan’s first level-3 coach and national JTI coordinator Kamran Khalil will be part of this  training programme and children will be provided with tennis equipment in this session so that they can continue with this programme in future.

In March this year, the programme was launched in Peshawar at Government High School Nawakhali and Kakul Public School Bara Road where more than 150 boys and girls were introduced to first and second stages of tennis for beginners.

It should be noted that Farah Riaz and Ebad Sarwar are coaches for the programme in Karachi and Tayyab Iftikhar in Lahore. â PTF will appoint more coaches with the expansion of this programme.