Soft tennis body hopes Pakistan will feature in 2022 Asian Games

KARACHI: National soft tennis body is hopeful that Pakistan team will be included in the 2022 Asian Games.

“We are now working hard to get our team included in 2022 Asian Games,” said Chairman Pakistan Soft Tennis Association (PSTA) Khalid Rehmani while talking to ‘The News’.

He added that their team participated in the 18th Asian Games at Palembang, Indonesia, through the special efforts of President Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) Arif Hasan.

It is pertinent to mention here that PSTA is not affiliated with POA as their affiliation process is underway.

“PSTA is affiliated with International Soft Tennis Association and Asian Soft Tennis Association,” said Khalid.

He said the court is same as of regular tennis but balls (made of rubber), rackets (smaller), and scoring system are different from regular tennis.

Japan is the world champion of soft tennis. This version of tennis is played in the USA, Europe, Asia, and Latin America. The nations dominant in soft tennis are Japan, China, South Korea, and Chinese Taipei.

“We have been promoting this sport in Pakistan and we regularly include its special events in our tennis events held in Sindh,” said Khalid.

He added that they have developed a good team of soft tennis that has started making its presence felt at the international level.

“Our team won bronze medal in World Soft Tennis Championships held in China in 2019,” said Khalid.