TENNIS

we were looking forward to organising the matches against Hong Kong and we had all security plans in place,” Pakistan Tennis Federation Secretary Khalid Rehmani said.

The International Tennis Federation announced yesterday that Hong Kong had withdrawn from its tie citing security concerns.

Pakistan, which went without international tennis at home for 12 years, hosted the Iranian squad in January and won the tie 3-2 to advance to the next round.

The ITF had told Iran it would have to play in Pakistan although the Iranians also initially expressed reservations over security.

Rehmani said Hong Kong withdraw from the tie after first challenging the ITF Davis Cup committee’s decision that they should play in Pakistan.

He said the case will now be sent back to the independent tribunal to find out if Hong Kong had breached tournament rules by refusing to play in Pakistan despite ITF instructions.