KARACHI, Jan 4: Pakistan will begin preparations for the Davis Cup Asia Oceania Group-I tennis opening round match against Chinese Taipei in Karachi from Jan 22, a top Pakistan Tennis Federation (PTF) official said on Wednesday.

PTF President Senator Dilawar Abbas said that the top senior and junior players of the country would attend the Davis Cup training camp to be held here at the Karachi Gymkhana for around 15 days.

The decision to hold the Davis Cup training camp in Karachi was taken during the PTF Management Committee meeting held here on Wednesday.

Pakistan is scheduled to go to Chinese Taipei for the Davis Cup first round match to be held from Feb 10 to 12.

The Pakistanis, who reached the Davis Cup World Group Playoffs for the first time in history last year, are planning to prepare a strong squad for the tie against Taipei in order to get into the semifinals of the competition.

The PTF president said that six senior and seven junior players of the country had been selected to take part in the trials to be held by the end of this month. Pakistan has already exempted its top two players — Aisamul Haq and Aqeel Khan —from the trials.

The 13 players invited for the training camp would participate in the trials. Pakistan would announce its team for the tie against Chinese Taipei early next month.

Dilawar said that former Davis Cupper Muhammad Khalid would be the coach of the team while Khawaja Saeed Hai would be the manager. The players invited for the trials are Asim Shafik, Nomi Qamar, Jalil Khan, Shahzad Khan, Inam Gul, M. Shafiq (seniors); Yasir Khan, Tanvir Ashiq, Nasir Mushtaq, Omar Babar, Khurram Nazir, Usman Ijaz, and Hidayatullah from the juniors.

Dilawar said that the PTF would send its leading players Aisam and Aqeel to participate in international events to be held in China ahead of the Davis Cup first round match.

Meanwhile, a five-member Pakistan’s squad would feature in the 2006 International Tennis Federation (ITF) under-14 tennis championship to be held in Myanmar from Jan 8 to 18.

A PTF official said on Wednesday that the national team included three boys and two girls and would compete alongside under-14 players from various countries of the region.

The Pakistani team includes Heera Ashiq, Waqas Malik, Sadanul Haq, Natasha Afridi and Mehek Khokhar. Mehboob Khan would be the coach of the team.

The ITF under-14 Championship is one of the many international junior events in which Pakistan would be taking part this year.

Pakistan would also feature in the Junior Davis Cup to be held in Thailand in May.

The national girl’s team would take part in the Junior Fed Cup also to be held in Thailand. The Junior Davis Cup would take place from May 1-7 followed by the Junior Fed Cup to be held from May 8 to 15.

Pakistan would host a couple of international junior ranking tournaments this year. The PTF has requested the ITF to allocate it a couple of ITF junior ranking events.

The federation plans to host the events during August and September.—Agencies