There Is A Ray Of Hope For Pakistan In Davis Cup Decision

Written by: Bob Larson Tennis on 16th April 2013

There Is A Ray Of Hope For Pakistan In Davis Cup Decision

epa01497601 Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi of Pakistan returns the ball to Robin Soderling of Sweden during their first round match of the ATP Thailand Open tennis tournament 2008 at the Impact Arena in Bangkok, Thailand, 23 September 2008. EPA/NARONG SANGNAK |

The efforts of Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi in appealing against the International Tennis Federation’s (ITF) decision to award the recent Davis Cup Asia/Oceania tie to New Zealand because the playing surface was viewed dangerous, have been initially successful and the petition would be submitted before the Board of Directors next month.

Earlier this week Qureshi gave a one-and-a-half-hour briefing to the Davis Cup Committee at the ITF’s Roehampton headquarters in London will full details of the tie held on a grass court in Yangon, Myanmar (formerly Burma).

Pakistan was leading the match 1-0 when the Sri Lankan referee Ashita Ajigala declared New Zealand winner in the Cup match due to poor surface of the court.

Qureshi based his case on the referee showing favoritism and bias towards New Zealand and said: I am positive of a solution as the tie was unfairly awarded against us. It seemed the referee was not working for the ITF but for New Zealand and he was clearly partial and unjust.”

The three-day Asia/Oceania Group II tie was staged in Yangon after New Zealand had refused to play in Pakistan due to security concerns.

If the Pakistan Tennis Federation manages to get its Davis Cup tie against New Zealand replayed, the big issue is where it will be held.

However, the ITF is now set to be given the additional headache of finding a venue for the rematch as security issues ensure Pakistan remains a no-go area for international sport.

Tennis New Zealand chief executive Steve Johns maintains his budget is already compromised “To try to get eight players and captains to break their schedules would be extremely tough,” Johns said.