Pakistan lose in U16 Davis Cup encounter

Tennis team to vie for fifth place in playoff against Vietnam today.

KARACHI: Pakistan will now fight for fifth place after going down to Saudi Arabia 2-0 in their U16 Davis Cup encounter in Kuching, Malaysia yesterday.

In the quarter-final of the prequalifying rounds, Pakistan lost both singles rubber to Saudi Arabia and will now face Vietnam.

After an impressive start to the tournament – Pakistan beat Kyrgyzstan 3-0 in their opening match – the team went down to Kazakhstan 3-0 in the Group A tie. However, they still made it to the quarter-finals after finishing second in Group A.

Against Saudi Arabia, Nofil Kaleem lost to Omar Fahmi T Ahmed 6-1, 6-0, while Muzammil Murtaza went down against F A Alhaqbani Ammar 6-1, 6-0, before the team decided against playing the dead double rubber.

According to a PTF official, the team’s performance was satisfactory as the top player Mudassir Murtaza was missing from the squad after his deportation from Malaysia.

He added that the coach Asim Shafik was forced to use the U14 squad for Davis Cup matches, pointing out that other teams had 15-year-olds available.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 28^th, 2013.