Pakistan’s newly-crowned Davis Cupper Samir Iftikhar, achieved another milestone in his short career with a lucrative four-year scholarship from the University of New Mexico, USA (NCAA Division 1). Samir, who was country’s top ranked junior player on ITF Circuit in 2010 with four ITF Junior World Ranking titles under his belt, would resume his semester from August 2011. Samir, who despite devoting full time to tennis in past few years, cleared his A levels with good grades and scored high on SAT Test which made him eligible for the prestigious NCAA University.
He has received 80 percent scholarship amounts of about $ 125000 which will cover his tuition fee, books, tennis training and traveling. Samir is now looking for another cover of 20 per cent from his own resources. He will be part of UNM tennis team which will compete against highly competitive NCAA universities. In the past players like Jimmy Connors, John McEnroe, Roscoe Tanner, Haroon Rahim and currently most of top 200 players on men’s circuit are NCAA University players. India’s Somdev Devvarman, who is ranked 70 in the world, is the product of University Tennis.The 18-year-old Samir, who belongs from a family of tennis players, was congratulated by PTF President Kalim Imam, Senior Vice Presidents Col Asif Dar, Secretary Mumtaz Yousaf, Irshad Bhatti for his achievement.
Asif Dar commenting on Samir’s achievements said: “It is a big honor for Pakistan and PTF.” Dar also said: “The PTF will encourage Samir to pursue his goals.” Samir, who is currently training in the UK said: “I am very excited to got the US University scholarship and am looking forward to learn more and gain valuable experience in tennis.”
