Aqeel unhappy with Davis Cup camp

Aqeel Khan feels poor organisation from the PTF will affect team negatively.

KARACHI: The Pakistan Tennis Federation (PTF) has announced that the training camp for the 2011 Davis Cup will begin from February 14 where at least three players from the four-member squad will prepare to face Hong Kong in the Asia/Oceania Zone Group II tie.

The PTF has selected Aisamul Haq Qureshi, Aqeel Khan and Pakistan-born Australian Rameez Junaid as the three main members of the squad while the fourth member will be picked after the trials end on Friday.

While Khan will join the camp on the opening day in Lahore, Junaid is expected to arrive four days later while Aisam will skip the camp and join the squad in Hong Kong where he will arrive from Dubai.

Khan, who has represented Pakistan in the Davis Cup for the past seven years, felt that poor organisation from the PTF will affect the team negatively. Khan believes that Junaid, in a similar manner to Aisam, will join the squad in Hong Kong instead of taking part in the camp and that will make the PTF’s effort of holding training in Lahore futile.

“Its disturbing in so many ways, the PTF has made it clear that it is depending on the three of us but I fail to understand why they are calling me to the camp when I know Junaid and Aisam will not be there,” Khan told The Express Tribune.

“I practice regularly in Karachi and don’t see why Junaid would want to play with juniors in Lahore. To be honest, I feel that the PTF’s plan is flawed in this way. We will get to train in Hong Kong for about five days and that’s all the time we have to find rhythm and coordination among ourselves.”

Published in The Express Tribune, February 9^th, 2011.