PTF snubs Aisam’s complaints

PTF president Dilawar Abbas dismissed Aisamul Haq Qureshi’s claims that Pakistan lost due the slow courts provided by TNZ.

KARACHI: The Pakistan Tennis Federation (PTF) president Dilawar Abbas has dismissed Aisamul Haq Qureshi’s claims that Pakistan lost due to the slow courts provided by Tennis New Zealand (TNZ) and that the federation should take action against the transfer of Davis Cup ties from Pakistan to New Zealand.

“We put up a good fight against New Zealand,” Abbas told The Express Tribune, “In Hong Kong our squad won the ties even when it was raining. We didn’t complain then because we won, so why should we complain now?”

“Aisam’s claim that the courts were slow is not valid, because he had won the first singles match against Michael Venus and then won the doubles match on the same surface,” said Abbas.

According to Abbas, players can only complain about the courts if they were not well-maintained or if they were not staying in proper hotels. He protested that the federation could not complain to the International Tennis Federation (ITF) because the hosting country chooses the surface.

Abbas said that it is just unfortunate that Pakistan had to lose its hosting rights due to the deteriorating law and order situation in the country, but insisted that this should not become an excuse to complain about the courts that were provided by the TNZ.

New Zealand advanced in the Davis Cup Asia/Oceania Group II ties after winning both the reverse singles matches against Pakistan on the final day to close the tie with a 3-2 win.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 13^th, 2010.