28 April 2005	Thursday	18 Rabi-ul-Awwal 1426

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LAHORE, April 27: An eight-member Taiwan squad arrived on Wednesday morning to play the Davis Cup Asia Oceania Group I tie against Pakistan from Friday to Sunday.

The squad consists of four players and as many officials. The visitors also held a practice session at the Defence Club which is also the venue of the tie.

Non-playing captain of the visitors Mr Chen said that Pakistan had an edge over his side due to the grass courts but vowed his boys would play with positive frame of mind to win.

“I even could not think about the fine quality of the grass courts in my country which I saw here at the club and I think Pakistan are favourites”, he said.

“Both teams have quality players and the fans will see tough matches and definitely the grass court’s advantage will go against us and I am worrying about that”, he said.

The draws will be taken out on Thursday. Four players in the squad are Wang Yu, Lu Yen, Liu Tai and Chendi.

Four Pakistan players picked up for the tie are top seed Aisamul Haq Qureshi, Aqeel Khan, Asim Shafik and Shahzad Khan.

Meanwhile, the Pakistan Tennis Federation (PTF) has failed to provide latest information about the tie to the press. Not a single press release was issued by the federation to inform the press about the arrival and practice programme of the visiting teams or about the draws ceremony.

“The Punjab Lawn Tennis Federation has to do with all other job and the federation is only dealing with the technical aspects of the tie”, the PTF secretary Rashid Khan told Dawn.

The affairs between the PTF and PLTA have not been running in excellent ways and their non cooperation with each other had already been exposed during the last tie held here against Thailand.