Tennis woes

The International Tennis Federation (ITF) has rejected Pakistan’s appeal to conduct a rematch of their Davis Cup Asia-Oceania Group II tie that was awarded to New Zealand by the match referee. The ITF’s verdict that upholds its official’s decision, who penalised Pakistan for its inability to ensure ‘proper playing conditions’ as the hosts, has not come as a surprise but has certainly disappointed the country’s tennis fraternity. Deprived of international events due to foreign players’ reluctance to visit the trouble-ridden country, the Pakistan Tennis Federation (PTF) went to great lengths in convincing the ITF to arrange the tie on a neutral venue in Myanmar. The PTF also claims to have spent Rs4 million in arranging the fixture but then saw its worst nightmare become a reality as the grass courts, meant to give Pakistan players an advantage, deteriorated, which resulted in the referee awarding the tie to New Zealand.

This reflects on the poor planning and irresponsible attitude on the part of the PTF. This incident follows that of a deportation episode when Pakistan’s ace junior player Mudassir Murtaza was sent back home by Malaysian immigration officials despite having all the required documents. Even then, the PTF was quick to play the blame game instead of realising that the 15-year-old was travelling alone and an official was needed to guide the youngster, who could not communicate with the immigration authorities in English. Given an opportunity to redeem itself, the PTF failed again and saw the team lose a golden chance to earn promotion to Group I.

Amid a lack of events, the least PTF could have done was to ensure “perfect” conditions for the tie. The referee’s decision was a harsh one, but it was the PTF’s fault and it needs to acknowledge it. It reminds us of the cricket spot-fixing saga, where two of the three banned players kept appealing against their punishments but got the wrong end of the stick every time. Why not, for once, ensure that everything at our end is perfect before we ask the world to have a second look at our case?

Published in The Express Tribune, May 4^th, 2013.