ISLAMABAD, April 28: Williams sisters are idolised by two Pakistani siblings. And Alina, 13 and Mahin Aftab, 11 want to achieve feats of Serena and her older sibling Venus with both girls training hard to shine in tennis world.

“Williams sisters are our role models and we are on course to achieve what they did,” both the sisters expressed their views on Sunday.

Alina and Mahin have recently undergone a four-month intensive training programme in Barcelona, Spain under world leading coaches, including Chile’s Colin Padro, Juan Carlos Baguena, Raphael Maurer, Robert and Fedrico (Kiko).

Currently, both the sisters are groomed by former national champion Zulfiqar Rahim as well as level-I coach Moin at the Pakistan Tennis Complex in the federal capital.

Both Alina and Mahin earnestly want to become professional players and to make sure they get what they want both the girls undergo three-hour practice daily.

“Both the sisters are full of passion, determination and self- belief which are prerequisites for those aspiring to become champions” said Zulfiqar, who also has experience of coaching in England.

“They have a lot of natural talent besides being very explosive and fast as they can play from anywhere on the court,” commented their coach Moin.

Both the girls started playing tennis some three years ago and since then they never looked back.

“We got really tough training in Spain under supervision of renowned coaches, since we used to get intensive training of around five hours everyday,” said Alina.

However, she expressed disappointment with being unable to take part in any event, blaming the Pakistan Tennis Federation (PTF) for failing to organise any event during the past seven months for U-14 girls.

“Almost seven months have passed and we have not been able to play a single tournament here as the PTF has failed to hold any event for under-14 girls,” Alina maintained.

“We have appeared in just one event which was organised by the Islamabad Tennis Complex (ITC). Mahin and I made it to the final. However, Mahin got better of me,” added Alina joyfully.

Both the girls also keep a close eye on international players with the younger sister Mahin, who last year won U-12 category of the first ITC National Junior Ranking Tennis championship, saying:“Besides Williams sisters, we like Roger Federer and want to become true champions.”

“We wish to match and break records set by Serena Williams and Venus Williams. I’m sure we can do that,” she added.

Alina and Mahin’s father Air Commodore Aftab Ahmed said that he wanted to see his daughters represent the country in WTA events.

Last year he himself bore expenses of his daughters’ training in Spain but this year owner and director of the Roots Schools System Waleed Mushtaq has pledged to arrange sponsorship for their training.

He said both the girls needed to get training in Barcelona for at least four months every year till 2016, adding: “Only then they will be in a position to feature in the WTA events in style.”—APP