The Thais with their star-studded team are coming to Pakistan. Tough times are ahead
PAKISTAN, who last year struggled for a 3-2 victory over New Zealand in the play-off to retain its place in the Group One, on clay courts in Islamabad, will be facing a challenging task to overcome formidable Thailand in the Davis Cup, Asia Oceania Zone Group One tie, starting on March 4 on the grass courts of Lahore.
During the three-day tie, two men’s singles matches will be played on the first day, the doubles on the next day and two reverse singles on the third day, marking the end of the first round of the eight-nation contest of the Asia Oceania Zone Group 1. Other nations contesting the first round are China vs India, Japan vs Chinese Taipei, Indonesia vs Uzbekistan. All the matches also start on March 4 at already announced venues.
Pakistan Tennis Federation has already exempted the country’s two top players, Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi and Aqeel Khan from the national trials while two more players of the four-member team will be picked from trials at Lahore where Asim Shafiq, Nomi Qamar, Jalil Khan and Shahzad Khan are going through their training. Asif Cheema could not join the camp because of his education. Training was badly hampered by rains in Lahore.
Experienced Asim Shafik stands a fair chance for a place in the team while another place is to be filled either by Shahzad or Nomi as the trials are to end in a day or two.
Former Davis Cupper Mohammad Khalid is the non-playing captain. Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi, who has been on the ITF Circuit for about five years is an internationally renowned player. He is among the 250 top ranking players. He had represented Pakistan in an a number of Davis Cup ties but last year he did not play for Pakistan against Thailand at Bangkok following disagreement over financial issues with the PTF. Pakistan was outplayed 0-5 by strong Thailand.
Aqeel Khan is a great fighter who is currently among the 400 ranked players. However, he could not get the required financial support to compete in the ITF tournaments for earning points for ranking. Highly talented Aqeel Khan, who dominated the Pakistan tennis circuit and he also showed his supremacy in the Pakistan ITF Satellite, sponsored by Subh-e-Nau, held in August last year. However, he was extended financial support by the PTF when he competed in last year’s ITF tournaments in India. If Aqeel would have been sponsored at the age of 16, he could have been among the 150-200 ranked players of the world. Aqeel played a vital role in Pakistan’s victory in the Davis Cup play-off against New Zealand last year in Islamabad. The tie was 2-2 after Aisam suffered a 2-3 defeat in the first reverse singles before Aqeel, two sets down, staged a magnificent comeback to win the second reverse singles by 3-2 to help Pakistan retain its place in the Group 1.
But the coming battle at grass court of Lahore will be different a proposition for Pakistan against top seeded Thailand that looks firm favourite to win the first round tie. There had been some sort of controversy over choosing Lahore grass court for the tie as clay court would have more advantageous for Pakistan who had defeated New Zealand. But the fact remains that surface — grass, clay and hard courts matter little for Thailand who in its fold has Asia’s top player, Paradorn Srichapan, who is among the top 20 of the world. There is also Danai Udomchoke who has reached the second round of Wimbledon. He is also a world renowned player and said to be among the 100 ranking players.
Sonchat Patiwuatana and Chanachai Srichapan (the non-playing captain) and Vittya Samrej (Coach) are the other members of the Thailand team.
Srichapan and Udomchoke should face no problem in adjusting to any sort of surface as they belong to different class. So Pakistan’s chances of winning the tie against top seeded Thailand look remote. In such a situation it would have been much better for the Pakistan Tennis Federation, that the tie against Thailand would have been played at Karachi’s hard courts.
Pakistan’s three top players are the products of three different surfaces; Aisam of Lahore’s grass courts, Aqeel of Karachi’s hard courts and Asim of Islamabad’s clay court. So each centre needs a fair and equal treatment from the federation which should also hold Davis Cup ties in Peshawar and Quetta after every three or four years as part of promoting the game in NWFP and Balochistan.
But Karachi, one of the biggest tennis centres of the country, has been constantly deprived from staging the Davis Cup tie for the past 30 years as matches had been played mostly at Lahore or Islamabad. It was only in 1974 and 1975 that Karachi was chosen by the federation for the Davis Cup tie, despite the fact the mega city has the required facilities for holding the tie.
It remains a mystery why Karachi has been deprived of staging the Davis Cup tie.
The Thais with their star-studded team are coming to Pakistan. Tough times are ahead
