There are millions of British Pakistani expatriates who are settled in the United Kingdom but a few have remained attached with their motherland in several ways. Demographics of British Pakistanis have changed considerably since they first arrived in the UK. About 10,000 in 1951 to roughly 1.2 million today and now their second generation has grown in to inspiring youths with British nationalities such as World lightweight champion Amir Khan and his cricketer cousin Sajid Mahmood, Adil Rashid and Ajmal Shahzad and football Adnan Ahmed who has also represented Pakistan football team.
And now 19-year-old Samir Iftikhar and 15-year-old Alliena Swan are both British nationals of Pakistan origin but are believed to be Pakistan’s future hopes with having ‘world class talent’. Samir is Pakistan’s Davis Cupper while Alliena is a swimmer and are offspring of former Davis Cupper Tayyab Iftikhar and Nadia Swan whose children were born and raised in the UK but are representing Pakistan.
It can be said that they sacrificed the perks, facilities, opportunities provided by Sports Federations of developed countries for their talented players and have them opted to play for Pakistan. These youngsters are like ambassadors of the country.
Tennis and patriotism runs in the family of Samir from his father’s side. Samir, the prodigy is grandson of Indo-Pak Great Tennis Legend Khawja Iftikhar, who is the only player in the history of Pakistan to represent India, in Davis Cup in 1939 and opted to migrate and represented Pakistan in their Davis Cup debut in 1948 against Switzerland lost 3/2. Kh Iftikhar went on to serve Pakistan till 1963. Apart from his father Tayyab Iftikhar, his first cousin Aisam-ul-Haq is also Pakistan’s pride.
Samir moved to the UK with his mother Lindsay due to split up of his parents at age of 5. He started tennis at the age of 10 and with no formal coaching showed remarkable promise by winning local tournaments in the UK. His father spotted his talent and convinced him to play for Pakistan and in 2008, where the young patriotic kid left his O levels Exams in UK and braved the april heat to play trails for selection of Junior Davis Cup Team and earned the right to represent Pakistan.
Tayyb with limited financial resources has invested whatever he has for Samir’s international exposure at World Ranking Circuit and the youngster did not let him down. He became the second player after Aisam to win 4 ITF Junior World Ranking Titles since 1998. The youngster apart from his performance on the national circuit representing Wapda got academic scholarship for tennis and education at University of New Mexico in August 2011 where he is continuing to play tennis. On the other hand 15 year-old Lianna Swan also comes from a sporting family who is living in Dubai. Her father plays tennis, her mother Nadia Swan is a physical fitness trainer who has always played sport and followed physical training and nutritional paths.
Lianna made her swimming debut in 2011 to play the nationals and her mother traveled with her where Bahrain-born Lianna put up an amazing performance by setting 10 new records in all the ten events she competed in 15-16 years of age category. She has been picked up by Army and has represented Pakistan twice in international event in Beijing last November and Dubai. Army coach Zameerul Hasan appreciated Lianna’s talent and said: “She is Pakistan’s future. The girl has an amazing potential and I believe that she will become a great swimmer at International level.”
Youth like Samir and Allena are assets of country who needed to be nurtured and supported but thus far apart from little support there have been no one to show interest in their grooming. Such players require attention to achieve their goals and bring laurels to for the country. In fact the players like these are the true ambassadors of the country.
True ambassadors of the country
