Around six Indians finally reached Lahore and participated in the ITF Seniors World Ranking Tennis Championships, which concluded at Bagh-i-Jinnah last week.

The tournament also featured two French players, so Pakistan could attract at least some foreign players through this activity organised by the Punjab Lawn Tennis Association (PLTA).

Strict security arrangements had been made for the event. This could help the government convince more foreigners to visit Pakistan for investment or a sport.

The Indian players enjoyed their stay in Lahore and were found impressed with the lush green grass courts of Bagh-i-Jinnah. They also faced tough competition from Pakistani veterans who dominated most of the events.

Pawan Jain, one of the Indian players, said the competitions were tough and they had to put in all their effort to succeed. But only one Indian player, Rakesh Kohli, could grab a title in the men’s single 50-year age group, beating Pakistani Malik Inamullah.

Kohli said he enjoyed his stay in Lahore where people were friendly. At the end of the contest, Kohli said he planned to visit the historical places in the city.

The course was lit up by former Davis Cup holder and Pakistan’s non-playing captain Rashid Malik, who is also the elected secretary general of PLTA. He won three finals: two titles in 50 years and 45 years doubles categories with Chaudhry Muhammad Mushtaq as well as the men’s 45-year-old singles.

The Punjab Sports Board stepped forward to honour all the players by hosting a grand dinner.

Last week, players of Lahore’s Dar Hockey Academy, who were playing for Lahore Customs, participated in the first P.T. Yaqoob Memorial Tournament held in Gojra and stunned hockey pundits securing second position in the presence of seasoned departmental teams of PIA, Wapda and Tahir Zaman Academy.

The PIA defeated them in the final by a close margin of 2-1. The star-studded PIA failed to get a victory with a big margin that proved how much talent the Customs team had. For their performance, Customs Lahore should extend full support to the players by providing them a stipend or regular jobs.

Customs in the past has been patronising hockey, but gradually it parted ways with the game, which was now in a shambles. A good number of former Olympians such as Nadeem ND, Danish Kaleem, Muhammad Khalid, Shahbaz Junior and others held this tournament at grass roots level. Other Olympians should follow suit instead of criticising each other over the debacle of the national game.

The Lahore Polo Club (LPC) kicked off its 2015-16 season last week with the Adisseo Polo Cup. The LPC is a traditional club adjacent to the Race Course Park. Every year, LPC has to hold more than 50 tournaments. At the peak of the season, the club has the honour of engaging various foreign players, especially from Argentina, Brazil and the UK.

Lahore was the venue of National Women Junior, senior and inter-provincial women judo championships last week. Players from the four provinces, Wapda and HEC took part in the three-day event. The players from Fata and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa displayed marvelous performances as they clinched victories in three events, which showed these two areas had immense talent in the sport. The championship was held at the newly built indoor gymnasium at Nishtar Sports Complex in front of Qadhafi Stadium.

The gymnasium after a considerable delay of years was ready for the event. The project should have been completed in two years but took almost six years. Two similar projects of supposedly international standards were also under construction at the Nishtar complex -- a swimming pool and a tennis stadium. These projects were under construction even after seven years and their cost was increasing by the day.

The Punjab Olympic Association (PbOA) is set to stage its 6th Lahore Inter-school and Inter-Collegiate Games. In the last five episodes, a good number of local schools and colleges participated and this time also a huge participation is expected.

But the PbOA could not succeed to increase the range of this event from Lahore to other divisions of the province. PbOA Secretary Idris Haider Khawaja promised while launching the second episode of the event that Faisalabad, Sialkot, Multan and Rawalpindi would also hold such events. But so far, nothing has happened despite the fact this event has attracted many private schools and colleges and helped them prepare their teams in various sports.

Published in Dawn, November 10th, 2015