26-Apr-2012
The News
Waqar Hamza
KARACHI: The dormant units of Pakistan Tennis Federation (PTF) are likely to be disbanded in the next annual general meeting, as the body is considering inducting new members from the private sector.
Since 80 percent of the units are dormant and not conducting tennis activities for years, the federation is thinking of disbanding them and to give voting rights to some organisations of the corporate sector.
“In February, Pak Arab Refinery (PARCO) approached us to play an active role in the promotion of tennis through organising national and international events,” said the Vice President of PTF Khalid Rehmani.
“I have sent them a proposal as to how they can help the sport, for example, by taking our top junior players on their payroll, and I am expecting their response within two months. PARCO is doing good work for the promotion of sports in the country as recently they have organised an international squash event in Karachi,” he informed ‘The News’.
The VP further said that they would consider inducting organisations such as Habib Bank, National Bank, Zarai Tarraqiati Bank, and PARCO in places of dead units.
“We will probably have our Annual General Meeting (AGM) in October, in which our agenda will be to disband all those units that have been dormant since long, and to give chances to new players from private sector,” he added.
Khalid in this regard said that in the last AGM, held in December, they were told about this alarming situation and that HBL, NBP, and ZTBL were interested in promoting tennis. “So there is likelihood that this year we will take some action against all the dormant units and suspend their voting rights,” he added.
It may be noted here that out of total 14 units of PTF only Punjab and Sindh are active. Most ironic thing is that Balochistan has not organised a single tennis event for almost 15 years, and now when the Secretary PTF Mumtaz Yousuf is from Balochistan there is still no hope to have tennis activities in the province.
Similar is the case with Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa. Both the provinces in the last AGM stated that their horrible law and order situation was to blame for the lack of activities.
The VP said that after last AGM they requested the International Club of Pakistan to hold some tennis activities, after which it organised a national level tournament in February after four years.
Similarly, Wapda also promised to hold an event every year, while Army and Navy too were requested by PTF to start some activities, he added. “It is time to act because the private sector has good budgets and they are interested in taking initiatives to promote sports in the country,” said the Secretary of Sindh Tennis Association (STA).
As per the constitution of PTF any of its unit will lose its right of vote if it fails to organise a national ranking tournament for two years.
But around 10 units have not been organizing tournaments for last 15 years. Wapda and Army too are dormant despite having good tennis facilities.
Khalid said that in 2009 the federation had disbanded Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) over this issue of not organising tennis activities. “So there are examples that we can do this,” said the VP.
The 14 affiliated units of PTF are four provinces, three armed forces, Pakistan Railways, Islamabad Tennis Association (ITA), Patron Tennis Association, Pakistan Ordnance Factories (POF), Wah, Higher Education Commission (HEC), WAPDA and Pakistan International Airlines (PIA).
It appears that the Secretary PTF Mumtaz Yousuf himself has become inactive. He did not respond despite being called several times.
Source: http://www.thenews.com.pk/ |
