LAHORE, March 29: Merit has been totally neglected in selection of a four-member team for the Davis Cup tie against Japan, to be held in Toyota, Japan from April 4-6.

Without holding trials, which is a condition of the constitution, Pakistan Tennis Federation (PTF) named the squad which includes Pakistan No. 1 Aqeel Khan with three new faces Shehzad Khan, Shehzad Samad and Inam Gul in the squad.

The country’s  No.2 and No.3 players Asim Shafik and Nomi Qamar have been dropped on the grounds that they failed to perform well in against New Zealand when Pakistan was blanked 5-0.

The explanation being given is that the duo were dropped to pump young blood into the team. These reasons are as bizarre as they are incorrect.

The fact of the matter is that Aisam and Aqeel, Pakistan’s two key players had also lost their singles and doubles matches at Hamilton rather tamely.

Asim and Nomi Qamar played the reverse singles when the tie was dead and New Zealand had taken an unbeatable 3-0 lead.

In fact, the reasons put forward by PTF is nothing else but a cover up for blatant nepotism perpetuated by a senior vice president PTF with the blessings of president PTF.

Samad ranked No. 8 in the country could never have made it in the team on the basis of his ranking.

PTF selectors argued Samad could be a good double partner of Aisam-ul-Haq.

Again in selecting Shahzad Khan and Inam Gul, Karachi youngster Jalil Khan (No.6) and Mohammad Shafiq of Sahiwal (No.8) were bypassed.

Further,  for  the aforementioned  selections,  the  approved selection policy of the PTF was completely ignored. According  to this  policy, 8 top ranked players are supposed to be  invited  for  camp training followed by best of five sets trials matches.

The trials were not held deliberately because both Asim and Nomi would have beaten  Shahzad Khan, Shehzad Samad and Inam Gul.

This was amply proved when Asim reached the finals of ET Memorial Tournament and lost to Aqeel in three sets after having the advantage of leading 5-1 and having four match points in the second set on March 22.

Also, the PTF selection policy provides that if a tie is held within 60 days of a previous tie, the team will remain unchanged.

As Japan tie is to be held more or less within 60 days of the New Zealand  tie, no change in the previous team was warranted.  This rule was also violated by PTF to accommodate favourites.

The factual position is that in the guise of raising a young Davis Cup team, merit has been  completely overlooked which has also seriously affected whatever trust and goodwill there was in Pakistan tennis.

PTF must know that Japan are a formidable outfit and this  was not a right time to give blood inexperienced players.