International players opt out of ATT

Pakistan will be hosting tournament for first time but only local players will be competing

KARACHI: Pakistan will be hosting their first Asian Tennis Tour (ATT) without any international representation, and the country’s best player Aqeel Khan feels this is a major setback.

Two Indian players and one player from Bangladesh had showed interest in participating in Islamabad where the Asian Tennis Federation’s (ATF) ATT will kick-off from October 23 and continue till October 30.

However, they have since decided not to participate in the event keeping in mind the political bad blood between Pakistan and India.

This is also a blow to Pakistan Tennis Federation’s (PTF) campaign to let them host Davis Cup ties in the country again, with the federation hoping they could prove with the ATT that the country is safe enough to feature international players.

“It would’ve been nice to have foreign players here,” Aqeel told The Express Tribune. “The competition would’ve been better but we really can’t do much, so it will only be national players now.”

Aqeel added that it is tough to rope in international players for ATT as the circuit is still new and the continent’s top players go for the established International Tennis Federation (ITF) Futures events.

“The ATT will need time to become more popular,” said Aqeel. “It is an alternative circuit so most of the top players would go for tried and tested tournaments instead of the ATT. At least it is a good start for Pakistan. ATT began this year and in the previous editions of these events, in Thailand for example, there were all local players.”

Meanwhile, ATT Tour Federal Cup tournament director Muhammad Khalil Chughtai said that it is unfortunate that Indian players are not coming.

“It is a setback, but in the current political scenario, Indian’s don’t want to take the risk,” said Chughtai. “Bangladesh also backed away because regionally they are aligning with India. However, we are hoping for things to change by December.”

The ATT is carrying a total prize money of $5,000, with the winner earning 12 points and $900, while the runners-up will get seven ranking points and $600.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 19^th, 2016.

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