Plenty of table tennis events planned in Karachi

By Syed Khalid Mahmood


Besides being the financial capital of the country, Karachi is also the hub of sporting activities in Pakistan. Table tennis has been one of the most popular games in the metropolis but its controlling bodies in the past lacked the visionary approach to raise its standard.
The game also suffered enormously due to the politicking in the bodies whose premier objective was to prolong their stay in office by hook or crook. The Pakistan Table Tennis Federation (PTTF), for a number of years, remained chiefly responsible for the decline all over the country and Karachi was no exception.
The game of table tennis, however, has come alive in Karachi for the past couple of years with the induction of a few committed individuals who have been trying desperately to make things happen. It’s a very pleasant change and the results are coming.
The leadership of the Karachi Table Tennis Association (KTTA) is in the capable hands of Dr Farhan Essa and Javed Chhotani, both of whom have already made a difference by putting things in the right direction.

The KTTA held a media briefing at the National Sports Training and Coaching Centre (NSTCC) on January 14 in which they announced their plans to organize Inter-Schools, Inter-Firms and Inter-Towns Championships besides a couple of more events during the first quarter of the year.
Dr Farhan Essa, Chairman KTTA, revealed that a coaching camp for the students will be starting as early as on January 15 in order to let them prepare for the upcoming tournaments.
“The Inter-Schools tournament will be starting on February 1 and it will be followed by the Inter-Towns event due to commence on February 15. The Inter-Firms tournament will be getting underway in the last week of February,” Dr Farhan Essa revealed.
“We have planned to organize the 2nd Dr Essa Mohammad Ranking Tournament and the Inter-District Tournament during the month of March,” he added.
“Moving further we have the Amroha Ranking Championships and the Islamia Open Championships whose dates will be finalized later. We will be holding a few other events too before getting ready to host the National Championship late this year,” Dr Farhan Essa said.

The KTTA Chairman acknowledged the support of the sports departments of the provincial and city governments, hoping to get maximum cooperation from them to accomplish their mission of improving the standard of table tennis in the metropolis.
The President of the Sindh Olympic Association (SOA) and the Sindh Minister for Sports, Dr Mohammad Ali Shah, who was also present on the occasion, lauded the efforts of the KTTA while announcing a grant of Rupees half a million.
“The initiatives of the KTTA are heartening and they deserve the support of the government as well as the private sector. We are confident that our grant will help them in organizing their tournaments. I am particularly looking forward to the Inter-Towns event that is a new concept,” Dr Shah observed.
Dr Shah, one of the leading orthopedic surgeons of the country, noted that table tennis was one sport that was particularly refreshing for the eyes.
The PTTF President S M Sibtain, also commended Dr Farhan Essan and his team at the KTTA for their proactive approach and he hoped that the other associations in the country will derive inspiration from them.

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Aziz Memon: From a Table Tennis Champion to Legendary Rotary Leader

By Syed Khalid Mahmood

Aziz Memon, rewrote the history of Rotary during his tenure as the District Governor in 2007-08, is acclaimed as a man with the Midas touch. His accomplishments in the field of business and social sector are truly inspirational. He has proved his mettle in the Rotary arena by setting new records. 

Records are nothing new for Aziz Memon who derives great inspiration by following the sporting events and reading about the success stories of the top athletes of the world. 

Aziz Memon, District Governor, Rotary International, District 3270 (Pakistan and Afghanistan) for 2007-08 has had a great passion for sports from his childhood. In fact he played quite a few games himself and excelled in some of them. 

He was the school champion in table tennis. “Sports is an important part of just about every society, every country, every part of our planet. In one way or another, everyone is involved in sports or some sort, whether they are playing or watching or just knowing someone who does either,” he said in a recent interview. 

“Sports may come in many sizes. And every game has its own charm. Golf is an individual sport. Even though golfers play on the same course, they are really competing against one another only with their scores. Unlike tennis, in which one player must beat the other to finish a match, golf features each player against every other player, with the one who takes the fewest strokes to sink the ball into 18 holes declared the winner,”Aziz Memon pointed out.

“Football, cricket and hockey are team sports. Teams of eleven are off against each other, with team members helping each other to win as a team,” he added.

“Sports bring people together and also set people apart. They bring together in that a team can inspire many fans to cheer for that team. And each team has its own set of fans. So, when two teams compete against each other or two individual athletes go at each other, the fan base is divided in two. Such classic rivalries as Pakistan-India in hockey and Australia-England in cricket can last for decades with fan traditions being passed on from generation to generation,” Aziz Memon emphasized.

Among the famous sports quotes that came readily to his mind were that of Roger Bannister and Mohammad Ali. “Doctors and scientists said that breaking the four-minute mile was impossible, that one would die in the attempt. Thus, when I got up from the track after collapsing at the finish line, I figured I was dead,” Roger Bannister had said after becoming the first person to break the four-minute mile in 1952.

“Champions aren't made in the gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them-a desire, a dream, a vision,” were the words of US heavyweight boxer Mohammad Ali.  Aziz Memon also agreed with the observation of sprinter Carl Lewis who once said: “My thoughts before a big race are usually pretty simple. I tell myself: Get out of the blocks, run your race, stay relaxed. If you run your race, you'll win... channel your energy. Focus.”

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