The Club
A club with the hills at its back
Margalla Tennis Club sits on Street 1 in Sector F-6/3, beside an expansive public park. Founded in the early 1980s by the late Etzaz “ET” Azim, it has grown from an abandoned court into one of Islamabad's most enduring community and social hubs.
The club exists for one reason: to make good tennis easy to find in Islamabad.
Everything else follows from that. The courts are maintained daily because a true bounce matters. Coaching is structured because habits formed at ten last a lifetime. Bookings are limited and fairly shared because a court that sits empty helps nobody, and a court monopolised helps only one.
Our members are civil servants and students, doctors and shopkeepers, players who competed nationally and players who picked up a racket last spring. The Management Committee, elected annually, keeps the standards; the members keep the spirit.
Guests are welcome twice a month. Visitors are welcome any time to watch from the terrace — the tea is good and the doubles is usually better than it looks.
Community
Members who arrive as strangers leave as doubles partners. The club diary is written by the people who use it.
Tradition
Whites on finals day, brushed clay after every set, and a handshake at the net. Small rituals, carefully kept.
Competition
Ladders, championships and a summer of tournaments — played hard, called honestly and settled over tea.
Family
Junior academy on Saturdays, family memberships, and a terrace built for the people watching.
Origins and Growth
From an abandoned court to a neighbourhood institution
Foundation
Established in the early 1980s by Etzaz “ET” Azim, at a time when recreational infrastructure in the capital was scarce and a playable court was a rarity.
Location
Set on Street 1 in Sector F-6/3, adjacent to an expansive public park — courts screened by old trees, with the Margallas beyond.
Community Role
For four decades a localized sports and gathering spot for residents, diplomats and officials — tennis first, friendships close behind.
In Memoriam
Etzaz “ET” Azim
Founder of Margalla Tennis Club — animator, volunteer, community visionary
1 December 1991
In the early 1980s, when Islamabad had far more open ground than places to play, Etzaz “ET” Azim found an abandoned court behind a public park in F-6/3 and saw what it could be. Out of a personal love for the game — and a deeper love for the neighbourhood around it — he cleared it, rebuilt it, and opened it to anyone willing to play fairly and look after the place.
He was, by every account of those who played alongside him, an animator first: the person who made the phone calls, filled the fourth spot in a doubles set, found the money for a net, and remembered the names of everyone who walked through the gate. Residents, diplomats, officials and schoolchildren were all given the same welcome and the same expectation — turn up, play honestly, leave the court better than you found it.
He never treated the club as property. He treated it as a commons: run by the residents who used it, funded by the people who cared for it, and improved a little each season by volunteers who gave their evenings to nets, lines and lights. That model — a facility built and kept by its own community — is his real legacy, and it still governs how this club is run today.
Key milestones
Early 1980s
The court is found
An abandoned court beside the park in F-6/3 is cleared, resurfaced and put back into play at Etzaz “ET” Azim's own initiative.
1980s–1990s
A club takes shape
Members are gathered street by street, a volunteer committee is formed, and the first fixtures, lines and nets are paid for by the people who use them.
2000s
Open to the whole neighbourhood
Residents, diplomats, officials and juniors play side by side; the club becomes one of Islamabad's steadiest social and sporting hubs.
Today
The legacy continues
Family and community stewards carry the club forward, still volunteer-run, still funded and maintained by its own members.
“A court is only ever borrowed. What you leave behind is the company you kept on it.”
Every rally played here is, in some small way, his doing. The Management Committee, the members and the volunteers of Margalla Tennis Club remember Etzaz “ET” Azim with gratitude, and keep the club as he intended it — open, well-tended and in the hands of its own community.
Founder · Margalla Tennis Club, F-6/3, Islamabad
Continuity
Carrying the legacy
The founder's legacy and the club's daily operations have been carried forward by family members and community figures who volunteer their time — among them Shahid Azim, Sikandar Ajum (President) and Nighat Saeed.
Fundraising and Events
Kept up by the people who use it
The club regularly hosts diplomatic and social fundraisers — including a 2008 dinner and entertainment show given by the Belgian Ambassador at his Islamabad residence — to maintain and upgrade the courts, lighting and pavilion for the wider community.
From the Club
From the Club News
From the archive — July 2008
A show held to raise funds for Margalla Tennis Club
Belgian Ambassador Michel Goffin and his wife, Meagen Baldwin, hosted a dinner at their Islamabad residence followed by an entertainment show, to raise funds for the club in sector F-6/3. Around seventy guests spent the evening in the garden of the Ambassador's residence, in what those present remember as an unusually warm and cordial gathering.
The club — on land overlooking the scenic park next to First Street — was founded by the late Etzaz “ET” Azim in the early eighties, at a time when sports facilities in such surroundings were very few. President Sikandar Ajum presented a visual demonstration of the club's activities, followed by an art auction of an oil painting by Raja Najm-ul-Hassan and an exquisite ladies' evening gown sponsored by Nighat Saeed.
Adapted from a press report published 7 July 2008.
Latest notices
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Board of Management
The board members of MTC
Margalla Tennis Club is governed by an elected, entirely voluntary Management Committee. It meets monthly to oversee membership, finances, court policy and the upkeep of the grounds — and answers to the members who fund the club.
Sikandar Ajum
President
Leads the Management Committee, represents the club at civic and diplomatic events, and has presented the club's work at fundraisers since the 2000s.
Shahid Azim
Board Member
Son of founder Etzaz "ET" Azim. Keeps the club's original ethos intact: volunteer-run, member-funded and open to the neighbourhood.
Nighat Saeed
CEO of the Club
Organises the club's social calendar, tournaments and fundraising evenings that pay for courts, lighting and pavilion upkeep.
Faisal Saeed
Secretary / Treasurer
Oversees membership records, club finances, court bookings and the day-to-day correspondence that keeps the club running smoothly.
Committee positions are reviewed annually. Members wishing to stand or raise a matter with the board can write to the club through the contact page.
The MTC Team
The people on court with you
Our manager, coaching staff, hitting partners and ball boys keep the club running from the first booking of the morning to the last floodlit set. Names, photographs and contact numbers are added as each role is confirmed.
Manager
Day-to-day running of the club, bookings, memberships and grounds.
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Manager
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Coach
Private lessons, junior academy and club clinics.
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Coach
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Hitting Partners
Booked by the hour for practice sets and drilling.
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Hitting Partners
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Hitting Partners
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Hitting Partners
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Ball Boys
On hand during matches, tournaments and club fixtures.
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Ball Boys
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Ball Boys
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Ball Boys
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In the spotlight
The members who keep MTC moving
Behind every court booking, tournament draw and fundraising evening stand volunteers who give the club its character.
Member spotlight
Nighat Saeed
CEO of the Club
This club is not just a place to play tennis; it is a home built by people who show up, day after day, for one another.
For more than twenty years Nighat Saeed has been the steady heartbeat of Margalla Tennis Club — organising tournaments that bring generations together, planning the fundraising evenings that keep the lights on, and welcoming every new face through the gate. She served as General Secretary and now leads the club as CEO, with an unwavering belief that a neighbourhood tennis court can become the soul of a community.
- Years of service
- 20+
- Events organised
- 200+
- Tournaments
- 60+
Member spotlight
Sikandar Ajum
President
ET sahib turned an abandoned court into a commons. Every brushed line and every floodlit evening since has been paid for by the people who play here.
Sikandar has played at Margalla for over two decades, first as a weekend singles player and now as the volunteer who opens the gate before sunrise. He chairs the Management Committee, runs the summer tournament draw and still takes challenges on the ladder.
- Years at the club
- 22
- Tournaments run
- 31
- Ladder position
- #6
Governance
How the club is run
An elected Management Committee oversees membership, finances and court policy, and meets monthly. Day-to-day operations rest with the Club Manager and the grounds team. Club rules, fees and booking policy are published in full and reviewed each season.
