Pak appeal rejected, Davis Cup tie in Kazakh capital
NEWDELHI: Dismissing Pakistan’s review appeal, the International Tennis Federation (ITF) on Tuesday announced Kazakh capital Nur-sultan as the neutral venue for the upcoming Davis Cup tie between India and Pakistan.
Pakistan Tennis Federation (PTF) had filed an appeal, contesting the ITF Davis Cup Committee’s November 4 decision to shift the November 29-30 tie to a neutral venue. PTF had argued that if Indian pilgrims can visit Pakistan without any security threat, why can’t the Indian team play matches in Islamabad. But the Independent Tribunal of the world governing body kept the games at a neutral venue.
“The PTF appealed the Davis Cup Committee decision to move the tie from Islamabad. The appeal was dismissed by an independent tribunal on Monday 18 November,” ITF said in a statement. “Further to the decision of the PTF not to nominate a neutral venue, in accordance with Davis Cup regulations, the Committee has voted in favour of the tie being hosted by the ITF on neutral ground at the National Tennis Centre in Nur-sultan (previously Astana), Kazakhstan on 29-30 November.”
The matches will be played on indoor courts since extreme cold conditions there won’t allow them to be staged outside. “Playing indoor suits our players. It will work in our favour, not that our players can’t play on grass but they are a lot more comfortable on hard courts. Weather conditions are harsh and though we are playing indoors, it still affects the body,” India coach Zeeshan Ali said. “The quality of tennis is better playing indoors because factors like sun and wind do not affect the matches.”
The tie was scheduled to be held in Islamabad in September but was pushed to November 29-30 after India expressed concerns about the safety of their players due to diplomatic tensions between the two nations following the revocation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir.
India have named a fullstrength squad for the tie as all top players, who had refused to travel to Islamabad, agreed to play at a neutral venue. The side will be led by top singles players Sumit Nagal and Ramkumar
Ramanathan while veteran Leander Paes and Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan are likely to pair up for doubles.
Top doubles player Rohan Bopanna pulled out of the tie on Monday after suffering a shoulder injury.
Zeeshan said Bopanna’s pulling out has proved that selecting three doubles specialists was a wise decision.
“It was a right call to have specialists as reserves. Bopanna is out and we have Jeevan to come in for him. We can’t name the playing five now but Jeevan is next person to get into playing squad. We will definitely miss Rohan. We have singles players who can play doubles as well, like Ramkumar but having a doubles specialist means that singles players won’t have to worry that they maybe required to play doubles. It is good to have left-right combination (Jeevan and Paes). If you look at the t e ams on paper, I ndia i s a stronger side and won’t have any problem in tackling Pakistan but anything can happen in Davis Cup. You cannot take any match for granted,” he said, cautioning that taking Pakistan lightly is not a good i dea despite t he absence of higher ranked players in the opposition ranks.
Pakistan’s Aisam-ul-haq Qureshi has threatened to pull out of the tie in protest against shifting of the tie, which may further weaken the Pakistan team.