KARACHI - Former Davis cupper Nomi Qamar son of a local professional tennis coach was the first Pakistani to win No. 1 in Asia U-14 player in 1994-95 by winning six singles and six doubles titles while playing at the Asian circuit in six countries.
The diminutive former Davis cupper Nomi Qamar who was ranked among the top three of the country along with Aqeel Khan and Aisamul Haq for a number of years just a decade ago, said he won six straight singles and six doubles titles in under 14 age categories at Asian level playing matches in India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei during a period of one year. He said due to his performance at Asian level he was in the top five of the world in this age category in that period. He said he won No 1 position in Asia in U-14 group by winning championships and not by collecting points which are awarded to a player over the years.
irrespective whether he wins an event or loses in the first round. Under the current playing conditions a player is awarded points once he registers to play irrespective whether he had won or lost in the earlier rounds. If a player start playing at Asian level at the age of 12 he could collect enough points in next two years to get the top ranking. During those two years new players enter and older players leave as they get overage and become ineligible. Thus a player who is still playing automatically collect enough points to head the ranking list irrespective he had won an event or not.
He said he also had the honour to get world ranking of 230 in under 18 age category in 1998. He said he started playing Davis Cup for Pakistan in 2000 and for the next eight years he remained part of the team. However in 2008 he decided to skip the trials for the cup team when invited. He did not give any reason for not appearing in the trials but it was believed that the tennis organizers had already decided to sideline him and select younger players. Nomi Qamar decided to leave the team honourably before he was snubbed. He also represented Pakistan at Doha Asian games and at Islamic Games in Riyadh Saudi Arabia.
He was part of Pakistan team which won the team event and a number of other events.
Currently Nomi Qamar hold coaching lessons for interested youngsters at the tennis courts of a local hotel.