- Aisam-ul-Haq was elected as the Pakistan Tennis Federation (PTF) president on Saturday.
- He defeated his opponent, Major General (retd) Asghar Nawaz, 8–7 in the election.
- Aisam is the first active tennis player to become the federation’s president.
Major General (retd) Asghar Nawaz, his opponent, was defeated by him 8–7 in the election held at the PTF headquarters in Islamabad.
As the federation's president, Aisam becomes the first active tennis player to hold the position. He has been appointed to the position for a term of four years, succeeding Salim Saifullah Khan.
Arif Qureshi was elected treasurer, and Lt Col Ziauddin Tufail was elected secretary.
Asim as the president could be challenging
The potential presidency of Aisam at PTF could lead to a conflict of interest, as per Hameed-ul-Haq, a former Davis Cup captain, coach, and national champion.
“It seems nice that a tennis player could bring about a change in Pakistan’s tennis, but in Aisam’s case it may prove far from such an assumption,” Hameed stated last month.
He further mentioned that Aisam has the ACE academy to manage, which could make it challenging for him to carry out the responsibilities of the president of the tennis federation.
“I am afraid that all the budget, resources and energy of PTF will possibly be diverted to his ACE academy,” he expressed.
He noted that Aisam consistently received an appearance fee of $3000 for each Davis Cup tie he participated in, along with business class tickets if a match was conducted overseas.
He also added that nearly half of PTF’s budget had to be allocated to Aisam each time.
“If under some circumstances he is elected the President, he will be presenting a budget to fill his own pockets in terms of appearance fee which will prove to be a big joke,” Hameed concluded.
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