Even in the presence of the country’s top player Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi, Pakistan was unable to win the Manila battle against the formidable Philippines, who sailed through to the semi-finals of the Davis Cup Asia Oceania Zone Group Two.

After outplaying Pakistan for the first two days of the three-day tie, Philippines secured a winning 3-0 lead by taking the first two men’s singles on the opening day. The hosts also won men’s doubles on the second day and Pakistan lost the tie by 2-3.

With Aisam on board, Pakistan outclassed Oman by 3-0 in the first round at Muscat, after the International Tennis Federation (ITF) shifted the game from Lahore due to security reasons. However, in no time, Philippines demonstrated its overall superiority over Pakistan by registering three straight victories.

The fact that Senator Dilawar Abbas, president of the Pakistan Tennis Federation, failed to get the ITF’s decision for switching game venues reversed was extremely disappointing. Only in May this year, Australia refused to play its Davis Cup tie against India in Chennai due to security reasons, and the ITF imposed a heavy fine on the team after banning the team for one full year.

Coming back to the game, because Aisam was unable to join Pakistan in Manila due to his commitment to compete in the Hall of Fame Tennis Tournament in New Port, Canada-based Jibran Mohammadi replaced Aisam and the team finally included Aqeel Khan and his two younger brothers Jalil Khan and Yasir Khan. This was not the first time that Aisam skipped the Davis Cup tie, for even in the past he has made himself unavailable because of international commitments.

According to media reports, only seasoned campaigner Aqeel Khan gave Filipino number two, Treat Huey, a tough time in the opening singles by taking 11 games — four in the first set, five in the second and two in the third.

Philippines’ no.1 Cecil Mamit almost had a walkover victory against Jalil Khan who could get only four games in his straight set defeat in the second singles. As expected, Aqeel Khan and his new partner Jibran Mohammadi suffered defeats in the doubles against Treat Huey and Cecil Mamit.

Even if Aisam was in Manila, he would not have been able to save Pakistan from the impending defeat, for we are far behind in terms of world rankings, with Philippines at 43 and Pakistan at number 65. The only silver lining is that Pakistan remains in the group two of next year’s Davis Cup Asia Oceania Zone Group.

However, considering that Pakistan continues to give one bad performance after the other, like losing the 16-nation Asia Oceania Junior Davis Cup held in Australia three moths ago and the present defeat, it is very clear that our national tennis affairs are in really bad shape. It is high time for the NA Standing Committee on sports to hold an inquiry into Pakistan team’s consistent failure.