Pakistani Prodigy Tops In Asia

By Parvez Fatteh, Founder of http://sportingummah.com, sports@muslimobserver.com

Pakistan tennis prodigy Syed Nofil Kaleem continues to rule the roost in the under-14 category of the Asian Tennis Federation (ATF). The latest rankings showed that the Islamabad native remains comfortably atop the continental rankings in his age group, making him the first Pakistani tennis player to become Asia’s Under-14 champion. For the season he totalled 1,365 points in eight tournaments, winning two ATF singles titles, and finishing runner-up in three, in addition to claiming three doubles titles. The duo of Kaleem and Dawer Rehan recently clinched the juniors’ doubles title in a tournament held at Islamabad.

Kaleem finished way ahead of Alberto Jr Lim of Philippine, who has secured 1,060 points while Thailand’s Vorachon Ragpuongchon is placed third with 783 points. Three other Pakistanis are further back in the rankings: Sahibzada Ali (417 points) ranked number 15, Abdal Hyder (324 points) ranked number 23, and Muhahid Ali Khan (305 points) ranked 27th.

Kaleem has improved so much that he has started appearing in junior and men’s events rather than Under-14 events. “I’m now eyeing the ITF juniors circuit and intend to feature in Jordan, South Africa, Kuwait, Bahrain and Colombo,” Nofil told Dawn. Pakistan’s top men’s singles player, Aqeel Khan recently took note of Kaleem’s talent. Pakistan’s most noteworthy tennis player remains doubles specialist Aisam-ul-haq Qureshi.

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