Aisam plans to meet ITF officials

Tennis ace leaving for London to fight for Davis Cup case.

KARACHI: Aisamul Haq Qureshi will leave for London today to personally put forward Pakistan’s case before the International Tennis Federation (ITF) after the country was forced to concede its Davis Cup Asia-Oceania Group II tie to New Zealand due to ‘unplayable court’ conditions.

The referee’s decision to award the Davis Cup tie, which took place in Myanmar, to Pakistan’s opponents due to ‘unplayable court conditions’ was met with great hostility by the country’s tennis officials and players.

“Aisam is travelling to London tomorrow to make a personal appeal,” Pakistan’s Davis Cup captain Mohammad Khalid said in a press conference in Lahore. “He will request that this tie be resumed from where it was stopped.”

The Davis Cup Asia-Oceania Group II tie was awarded to New Zealand 4-1 despite Pakistan leading the contest in Myanmar, ending the country’s hopes of making it to Group I for another year.

Khalid added that this incident was a ‘the first example of gross injustice in Davis Cup’s history’.

“The ITF tried to help us after allowing us to host the tie at a neutral venue. We have a lot of respect for the international body. However, one of their referees made a shocking decision that reeks of incompetence, prejudice, bias and discrimination. We hope that the ITF will see this decision as unfair and rectify this blunder.

“We’re not asking them to give us the win. We are asking for some respect and justice.”

Published in The Express Tribune, April 11^th, 2013.