ISLAMABAD, Feb 22: Pakistan tennis chief Syed Dilawar Abbas on Sunday took a swipe at Rasheed Malik and Aisamul Haq Qureshi for staying away from this month's Asia Oceania Group I Davis Cup tie against Thailand.

"If a world class player like Paradorn (Srichapan), can represent his country in Davis Cup why cannot Aisamul Haq do the same," said Dilawar at the PTF Complex where he inaugurated the Greener Pakistan National Clay Court championship.

Pakistan were walloped 5-0 by Thailand and the absence of Aisam, who had pulled out days before the tie, was badly felt. He had demanded a sum of $10,000 for some of the previous Cup matches but it is widely believed that he had shied away mainly because a defeat to the strong Thai opponent was a foregone conclusion.

"We will definitely pay him the money but the country's interests should come first. He has to let us know if he is available or not, well in time so that we can plan accordingly."

"It is a dilemma that we have people who make themselves available when the team has a good chance of winning and disappear against stronger sides," said Dilawar of both Aisam and Rasheed, who would have been the non-playing captain for the tie.

Rasheed withdrew because he had wanted a longer training camp and had also asked the federation to send the players abroad for satellite tournaments. PTF complied by naming Aisam and Aqeel Khan, for whom they got a wild card, for tournaments in India. An unwell Aqeel, however could not make the trip but his partner did.

With Rasheed and Aisam not available, PTF named former Davis Cup veteran Inamul Haq as the playing captain who led a team comprising Aqeel, Nomi Qamar and Jaleel Khan. After their defeat in Thailand, Pakistan are now due to play Taiwan away this April on hard courts.

Dilawar said that he was hopeful that in the near future good results could be achieved as younger players like Shahzad Khan, Wasif Cheema and Omar Babar were coming up well. "Besides we have in this region veteran players Inam, Hameedul Haq and Mushaf Zia who are helping the new crop of players in their own way."

"We are making every effort to develop and promote tennis and we will be organizing satellite tournaments in Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar and the Masters in Islamabad in September-October this year."

"We have also been sending teams abroad regularly despite limited resources. I am confident that once we find good sponsors, for which we are making efforts, we will be able to dispatch more and more players to international tournaments."

A grant of Rs 5 million by the Punjab Chief Minister last year, is now about to be released, Dilawar said. "Once we have the money we will start work on the development of PTF Complex which currently has four clay courts. We will add one more shortly after which another five will be added."