‘PTF at fault for Mudassir’s deportation’

Yaseen blames tennis federation for brother’s humiliation.

KARACHI: The Pakistan Tennis Federation’s (PTF) irresponsibility and lack of interest led to the deportation of Mudassir Murtaza, said his coach and brother Yaseen Murtaza.

Mudassir was deported from Malaysia and failed to take part in the U16 Davis Cup where Pakistan ended up losing three matches on the trot to crash out of the event.

While PTF Secretary Mumtaz Yousuf said a complaint has been lodged with the International Tennis Federation (ITF), the fact remains that Mudassir was deported since he was travelling alone and failed to communicate with the immigration authorities, said Yaseen.

“The fact is that my brother was young and was travelling alone,” Yaseen told The Express Tribune. “The PTF is ignoring the fact that he was not accompanied by an official. He was sent by the PTF and needed to be accompanied by an official, or at the very least, guided properly.”

However, the PTF secretary was of the view that Mudassir should have had no issues since he has travelled alone before.



“Many players travel alone so that is not a concern, but what puzzled us as well was that we sent Mudassir with all the documents. We fear that he failed to communicate properly. When this happened we also called the Pakistani Embassy in Malaysia, but by the time they responded Mudassir was already deported.

“We want an investigation of the incident because even we don’t know why he was deported. Mudassir told us that he was asked about the amount of money he had on him and that was it.”

Meanwhile, Mudassir said that all of his belongings were confiscated and he was not allowed to make a phone call, even to coach Asim Shafiq.

“I couldn’t understand English and the authorities didn’t understand Urdu. I was stranded there for 10 hours before they deported me,” said Mudassir.

The International Tennis Federation, which responded on the development, also said that it was the PTF’s responsibility to ensure a smooth running of affairs.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 2^nd, 2013.