Pakistan to have two ITF Level-1 referees next year

KARACHI: Pakistan is to have two International Tennis Federation (ITF) Level-1 referees next year.

This was revealed by Shehzad Alvi, who is a white badge referee, while speaking at a 2-day ITF Officiating Workshop that concluded here on Thursday.

“We have selected two referees from Lahore and now they will be sent to any regional country next year to become ITF Level-1 referees,” said Shehzad.

He added that this will be a good sign for Pakistan as the country does not have many international level referees.

“Sadly, people here don’t take up officiating as a profession due to its not-so-good prospects. Financial constraints are a reason behind this low interest in officiating,” reasoned Shehzad.

He added that an international referee needs to officiate 25 matches at international level in a year, which is very difficult for many local referees to afford.

“But thankfully we are witnessing fresh interest from a number of people in officiating in Lahore and Islamabad. This is encouraging but Karachi is a bit behind in this regard,” said Shahzad.

The workshop was organised by Sindh Tennis Association (STA) in collaboration with Pakistan Tennis Federation (PTF) in which 15 umpires and players participated.

STA's Khalid Rehmani also delivered lectures. “Here in Pakistan we had introduced a Yellow Badge course in the officiating sometime back,” he said.

He added that this Yellow Badge is a pre-ITF level course that has been completed by a number of people in Pakistan.

“Today, many participants of this workshop have already completed Yellow Badge courses. But their succession to the ITF Level-1 has still not been achieved,” said Rehmani.