ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Tennis Federation (PTF) has decided to request the International Tennis Federation (ITF) to allow Pakistan to host upcoming Davis Cup final in Lahore.

Recently, Pakistan qualified for Davis Cup Asia-Oceania Zone Group-I final after defeating Chinese Taipei in Turkey. Now, the four-member Pakistan team are scheduled to face China in the Group-I final in March.

“Since the final against China is our home tie, we decided to submit a security plan to the ITF for holding the event in Lahore,” said PTF secretary Khalid Rehmani.

It is relevant to note here that during his visit to Pakistan, Asian Tennis Federation (ATF) president and ITF vice-president Anil Khanna supported Pakistan’s stance of hosting the home tie.

“The ATF chief has already backed us [to stage the final], so we hope that the ITF will allow us to organise our home tie against China in Lahore,” Rehmani said.

He added that the four-member Pakistan team (for the final) will include star player Aisam-ul-Haq while the remaining members will be selected through trials.

Meanwhile, the PTF announced that Pakistan’s U-16 boys team will participate in the Junior Davis Cup pre-qualifying round (Asia), scheduled to be held in Sri Lanka from Feb 29 to March 6, 2016. Pakistan ended as the runners-up at last year’s event held in Malaysia.

According to PTF secretary, the trials to select a three-member U-16 team for the said event will be organised at the S. Dilawar Abbas PTF Tennis Complex in Islamabad from Dec 27 to 30.

Six top players, as per rankings and age eligibility, along with one wild card entry each from Punjab, Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa will feature in the trials.

These players will be divided into two groups. Two players from each group will be selected for the second phase of trials where the selected players will contest in round robin matches for selection in the final three-member team.

The player attaining fourth position after the final trials will be kept as standby.

“After the trials we will select three players while Davis Cupper Mohammad Khalid Sadiq will accompany the team as the non-playing captain,” Rehmani said.

Sahabzada Mohammad Ali, Nauman Aftab, Huzaifa Abdul Rehman, Shoaib Khan, Aqib Umar and Hamza Bin Rehan have been invited to report at the U-16 trials.

For wild card entries, the three provincial associations are required to conduct regional trials and send the name of their best player to the PTF latest by Dec 15.

Published in Dawn, November 26th, 2015