LAHORE, Feb 12: The wet spell has hampered preparations of the Pakistan tennis team for the forthcoming Davis Cup Group-I tie to be held against Thailand in the first week of March.

The camp was to start at Bagh-i-Jinnah from Friday but the rains during this week delayed the beginning.

"If there is no rain the camp will begin from Monday," a Pakistan Tennis Federation (PTF) spokesman told Dawn.

Meanwhile, PTF has replaced the early appointed coach Rashid Malik with another Davis Cupper Mohammad Khalid.

Rashid's nephew Umar Malik, who met with a road accident injuring four other children of their family early this week, died on Friday night.

Rashid decided to withdraw his name with the consent of the PTF, the spokesman said. Five probables, Jalil Khan, Asim Shafik, Shahzad Khan, Nomi Qamar and Wasif will appear in the trials when the camp starts.

From them two players will be selected who will join top seed Aisamul Haq and Aqeel Khan to form the Pakistan team.