Ushna carries family torch

Ushna Suhail, grand daughter of tennis legend Khawaja Iftikhar, who represented India in Davis Cup in the pre-partition era, is all set to represent Pakistan in Fed Cup Group II ties in Hyderabad from Tuesday.

“Tennis is like my family sport. My father took me to the Lahore Gymkhana when I was 11 and made me play tennis. That was how my journey in tennis began. I would love to continue playing tennis and take the family tradition ahead,” Ushna said.

Tennis does run in her family. Aisam-ul-Haq, whom we better know as Rohan Bopanna’s doubles partner, is her cousin. Samir Iftikhar, another cousin of Ushna’s, played for Pakistan at the Asian Games.

Ushna, who is currently ranked 1,209 in the world, regrets Pakistan not being able to host any International Tennis Federation tournaments lately.

“In a country like Pakistan, it is quite difficult to make a career in sports, especially in tennis. We already have so many issues to deal with and sports are the last thing on anybody’s mind. In the last five or six years, we have not had a single international event in Pakistan,” she said.

“We need to get more exposure to improve ourselves as at the international level, which will happen only when we have proper planning and motivation from the Federation,” the 21year-old added.

“The image that is portrayed about Pakistan to the world is not correct. It’s not that bad, really. We play tennis in our kits and no one stops us. In fact, they ask us about the sport and on how to play it. Even our parents are quite supportive towards our career choice,” Iman Qureshi, another Pakistani Fed Cup player, chipped-in.

Sara Mansoor, who is the senior-most player in the Pakistan team, feels that India are tough side. “If you ask me, India are a very strong team. They have better chances of qualifying for the next round. We cannot rule out Indonesia as well,” Sara, Pakistan’s No.2 player, said.

Tennis is like my family sport. My father took me to the Lahore Gymkhana when I was 11 and made me play tennis. That was how my journey in tennis began.