Tennis: Aisam-less Pakistan humiliated in Manila
Pakistan lost the Davis cup Asia/Oceania zone group II tie against Philippines 3-0 in Manila after Aqeel Khan and Jalil Khan were beaten 6-1 6-4 6-2 in the must-win doubles match yesterday.
Ruben Gonzales and Treat Huey defeated the Pakistan duo after the tourists had lost both singles matches on the opening day. Pakistan had reached the second round after edging past Lebanon 3-2 earlier this year but had managed to beat Philippines just once in their last four Davis Cup ties.
Despite the score, Pakistan will still play the reverse singles today, according to coach and non-playing captain Mohammad Khalid.
“We need to carry on and we’ve opted to play the dead rubbers because we want our players to gain experience,” Khalid told The Express Tribune. “I’m not disappointed by the loss. Philippines are a very strong at home. The countries that participate in the Davis Cup have a strong infrastructure and they produce new faces every year. They also get to play international tournaments while the situation is entirely opposite in Pakistan.”
Meanwhile, Aqeel blamed the absence of Aisamul Haq Qureshi for the loss. Aisam’s injury forced him to miss the tie that was shifted from Lahore due to security concerns with Phillipines opting to use their preferred clay courts.
“We were unlucky this time,” said Aqeel. “We beat Lebanon because we had a lot of spirit and we were annoyed with the ITF for switching our home tie to Beirut. But somehow we channelled our anger in a positive manner. But this was just a struggle, a lot of frustration on our part for losing the home advantage and also because Aisam was not here.”
Published in The Express Tribune, April 8th, 2012.
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the teams, the sports federation, the boards who peg their hopes on individual players (without doing anything to raise the standard of the game as a whole) DESERVE to be humiliated..