LAHORE - Pakistan’s rising tennis star Hussnain Ali Rizwan, who has moved to second spot in the Asian Tennis Federation (ATF) U-14 boys rankings, is keen to top the Asian Tennis this year. 

In an interview with The Nation, Hussnain said: “I trained very hard under the guidance of one of the top tennis coaches of Pakistan, Muhammad Khalid, who has honour of transforming many youngsters into true tennis champions. This is his hard work and guidance that in 2021, I dominated national and international tennis and managed to claim second spot in the ATF rankings. Now I am keen to improve my game and skills to top Asian Tennis in 2022.” 

Revealing the details about his international feats, the youngster said: “I won the first international gold medal of 2021 in the Midcourt ATF Championship leg-I held in Islamabad and then secured silver medal in leg-II of the Mid Court ATF Championship. After that I took part in ATF Bahrain U14 Tennis Championship 2021 that proved to be the memorable one of my career to date, as I not only clinched one gold and one bronze medal but I, along with my brothers Haider and Hamza Ali Rizwan and father Rizwan Yousaf, was also appreciated and honored by Pakistan Ambassador in Bahrain Muhammad Ayub at his office.” It is worth mentioning here that the Bahrain event was a high level A category tournament of ATF. 

Hussnain further said: “After Bahrain event, I went to Uzbekistan to feature an ATF event there, where I won a silver medal. Besides these feats, I have also earned a place in Pakistan junior team for the World Junior Championship qualifying round to be held in Colombo, Sri Lanka from February 14 to 19. I along with Hamza Roman topped the trials while Ahtesham Humayun finished third to book berths in the national team.

“I would like to give credit of my achievements to my father Rizwan Yousaf, whose all-out support motivated and helped me excel at higher level and to my coach Muhammad Khalid, who transformed me into an Asian level champion,” he added. 

The rising star also gave credit to Pakistan Tennis Federation President Salim Saifullah Khan saying, “Under the dynamic leadership of the PTF chief, Pakistan tennis has been progressing well at junior level. He played a key role in getting the hosting rights of ATF and ITF junior events, which provided Pakistani players a platform to exhibit their prowess against foreign players and learn and improve their games and skills. He also sent the players abroad to represent the country and gain international exposure, which enhanced their performances and helped them produce better results.

“Under the leadership of Rashid Malik, the PLTA also progressed well and hosted a record number of national events in 2021. Hopefully, the PTF and the PLTA will continue to organize a record number of international and national events for tennis players especially for juniors to help them further excel and win more laurels for the country at international circuit,” Hussnain concluded.