Davis Cup Committee rules for India to play draw in Pakistan: report | Tennis news

The Pakistan Tennis Federation (PTF) on Thursday claimed that the ITF Davis Cup Committee has decided that India should play its tie in Pakistan as per the original schedule. The PTF claimed that the ITF ruled in favor of Pakistan after India said it had security concerns over sending its team to the country. “The ITF said Pakistan would retain its hosting rights and rejected security concerns raised by India,” a senior PTF official said.

The Davis Cup Committee accepted the PTF’s submission against the Indian Tennis Association’s (IATA) refusal to send its Davis Cup team to Pakistan for the Group I qualifiers in Islamabad in the first week of February.

“The ITF has made it clear that if AITA fails to send its team to Islamabad, the draw will be awarded to Pakistan as there is no reason for India to have any security concerns about playing in Pakistan,” the official said.

The ITF also said ensuring the safety of the visiting team was the responsibility of the host and that it had recently successfully hosted other teams without any incidents, the official said.

The Indian FA recently told the Davis Cup committee that it was not possible for it to send its team to Islamabad for the tie and requested that it be held at a neutral venue.

PTF president Salim Saifullah Khan said he had taken the matter to the ITF and a presentation was made to the Davis Cup committee recently.

India also did not travel to Pakistan for the Asia Cup cricket matches in August and September, resulting in the majority of matches being played in Sri Lanka, with only four matches in Pakistan.

In 2019, the Indian tennis team refused to play in Pakistan and the Davis Cup match was moved to Kazakhstan on the advice of the ITF.

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