Sports Bulletin Report
LAHORE: The Punjab Tennis Academy (PTA) has signed the MoU with Long Beach Tennis Centre (LBTC) New York to work jointly for the promotion of tennis and its players in Pakistan.
The MoU was signed between PLTA Secretary Rashid Malik (Tamgh-e-Imtiaz) and Faheem Siddiqui, brother of Long Beach Tennis Centre New York CEO Sid Siddiqui on his behalf during a simple but impressive ceremony held here at the Punjab Tennis Academy, Bagh-e-Jinnah Lahore.
Speaking on the occasion, Rashid Malik said:
"The Junior Initiative Program was in progress here at the PLTA, which was halted by COVID but now, the PLTA is going to restart the initiative in collaboration with Long Beach Tennis Centre New York and this will help the association restart the junior initiative program once again. This will go a long way and help our kids excel at provincial, national and international level.
"This program includes the categories from Under-10 to Under-16 while the players will be selected on the basis of their last five PLTA-organized tennis tournaments. This time, the categories of Under-6 and Under-8 will be given special importance in order to prepare future tennis stars for the country.
“The selected players will be provided with free coaching, tennis balls, stringing and other facilities that will help them in domestic tournaments. This is a whole year program which will benefit the local players to a larger extent. Besides this, the top players of the program will also be awarded tennis scholarships and will be sent abroad to get training there and play against the best in the business there,” Malik concluded.
The Junior Initiative Program will commence in the beginning of December this year. PNC Sports New York CEO Saleem Chaudhry and LBTC New York CEO Sid Siddique will grace the grand opening ceremony as chief guests and made some big announcements for Pakistan tennis and its players.
