KARACHI: Pakistan’s number one tennis player Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi said on Monday he has pulled out of a Davis Cup tie in New Zealand later this week “to take a stand”.

The 2010 US Open Doubles finalist remains unhappy that a 2013 match against the same opponents held in Myanmar was handed by the match referee to New Zealand because of poor playing conditions, while Aisam was winning.

Pakistan has not hosted a Davis Cup tie since 2005 and plays its home matches in neutral venues because of security concerns.

He tweeted: “I believe we need to make a stand for our Country & rights specially nowadays when unfortunately no place is safe.”

His father Ehtisham-ul-Haq added: “Aisam is not in the right frame of mind and to pre-empt any further controversy he has pulled out of the tie.”

The Pakistan team was due to travel to Christchurch for their Davis Cup Asia Oceania Group I second round play-offs from September 16-18.

Ehtisham added: “Pakistan had offered a number of options to save the 2013 tie but New Zealand’s approach was unprecedented... which they should have made up by touring Pakistan.”

Tennis New Zealand has hit back, saying the decision to play in a neutral venue was made by International Tennis Federation (ITF).

“Pakistan had applied to the ITF to play the tie in their country but for obvious reasons [security concerns] that was rejected by the ITF,” TNZ chief executive Steve Johns told Stuff.co.nz.

“So, for Aisam to say we didn’t want to go Pakistan is incorrect. We never had the opportunity because the ITF made its decision before we got to the point where we had to decide whether or not we would go to Pakistan.”

Aisam, whose highest single’s ranking was 125, reached the US Open men’s doubles finals with Indian Rohan Bopanna and the mixed double’s final with Czech Kveta Peschke.

Published in Dawn September 6th, 2016