The 32nd CAS Khyber Open Tennis Championship was held here in Peshawar. Once again Aqeel Khan dominated the the game and won the tournament for 13th time. The final of the tournament was however disrupted by severe hail storm at a time when Aqeel Khan had won his first set 6-1 and was leading the second 4-1 against the 2nd seed Yasir Khan, his own brother. Yasir Khan was outclassed by the brilliant performance of Aqeel Khan and there seemed to be a big gap between the top seed and the second seed.
This time the PAF, the conductors of the tournament, had increased the prize money from 500,000 to 600,000, making this tournament the country’s highest paid tournament.
In the doubles final, the duo of Aqeel Khan and Jaleel Khan had to play against the team of Yasir Khan and Shehzad. However, this final was also disrupted by rain and the prize money was distributed evenly between both teams.
The veterans final was won by the team of Inamullah and Israr. However, it was unlikely for them to have won this title had former Davis Cupper Rasheed Malik’s partner reached in time. They were disqualified from the tournament because Rasheed Malik’s partner Hameed-ul-Haq could not make it in time. They requested the management to allow them to play their match the next day but the opposing team, finding this golden chance and knowing that they could not win against this phenomenal duo, objected to it and hence they were given a walk over.
It is important to note here that Rasheed Malik also took part in Men Singles and his first round match against Shehzad was termed the match of the tournament. He won his first set by outclassing Shehzad, but Shehzad then recovered and won the second set. The third set was then won by Shehzad 7-5 but the whole match was worth watching. During the match Rasheed Malik would continue teaching his students. He would explain to them that why he hit a particular shot and why not the other won. He completely won hearts of the spectators present there in the PAF sports complex.
Aqeel Khan on the other hand successfully continued his winning streak. He quite easily won all his matches and there seemed to be no one who could give him and discomfort during this tournament. Even the second seed Yasir Khan was no match against him. This also shows the vacuum of competent professional tennis players.
PTF (Pakistan Tennis Federation) has to seriously focus on this issue and provide better coaching facilities to top 15 players atleast. PTF is there only due to these players and if there are no players, there is no reason for it to exist. All it needs is a serious commitment to work on this problem. Frequent coaching camps should be conducted in the supervision of top coaches. Also, to attract youth towards this game, the prize money must be increased to atleast 1000000.
By taking few positive steps like these, we can uplift Pakistan Tennis from its sorry state that it is currently in. All it needs is commitment and a serious resolve.