CHENNAI: The Davis Cup Committee — comprising one chairman and seven members — will decide the fate of the India-Pakistan Asia-Oceania Group I tie. Talks between the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and the All India Tennis Federation (AITA) was slated to be held on Tuesday but the former, in a mail to the latter, said they have referred the issue to the Davis Cup Committee.
Chaired by Egypt’s Ismail El Shafei, they are expected to reach a verdict in the next 24 to 36 hours. “ITF sent us a mail today (Tuesday) morning saying they have referred the issue to the (Davis Cup) Committee so they will sit on and reach a verdict in a day or two,” AITA general secretary Hironmoy Chatterjee said. Captain Mahesh Bhupathi also confirmed by saying that the teleconference was ‘cancelled’.
While AITA will have no inputs during the meeting, if the Committee has any doubts, they will speak to AITA before the meeting. India was seemingly okay to play the tie in Islamabad on September 14 and 15 but political climate in Jammu and Kashmir has cast doubts on the tie. India had twice written to the ITF about security concerns but the world body rejected it on both ocassions. ITF finally relented by giving AITA a chance to speak to their security experts and executives in a teleconference on Monday.