MUMBAI: The All India Tennis Association (AITA) confirmed that they will be sending a team to Pakistan for the Davis Cup Asia Oceania Group I tie in September. India’s participation had been in some doubt because of the strained political ties between the countries. But the Indian sports ministry had left it to AITA to take a final decision since it is not a bilateral series.
“We will be going,” Hironmoy Chatterjee, the AITA secretary general, said on Friday. “It’s the World Cup of tennis and not a bilateral series, so there is no embargo on any front.”The tie will be held at the grass courts of Pakistan Sports Complex in Islamabad on September 14 and 15, which falls on Saturday and Sunday. This week a team of International Tennis Federation (ITF) representatives inspected the venue and security arrangements and have given the tie a green signal. Security has been a concern for ties in Pakistan in the past and the country was banned from hosting Davis Cup ties for twelve years.
That was lifted in 2017, when Hong Kong was drawn to play a Davis Cup Group II tie in Pakistan. The East Asian country, however, refused to send a team and were subsequently demoted to a lower division and slapped a fine. Since then, Pakistan has hosted Thailand, South Korea and Uzbekistan. It was their 3-2 win over Thailand that earned them a promotion back into Asia-Oceania Group I. “The ITF had sent representatives to Islamabad on the 22nd. Once they cleared it, we sent our details to the PTF so that they could issue us the invitation letter,” Chatterjee added. “Now that has come, the visa process can begin.”
The AITA selection committee is yet to meet and pen down the five names that will make up the Indian squad for the Davis Cup match. But they are likely to go by rankings and select Prajnesh Gunneswaran, Ramkumar Ramanathan and Sumit Nagal for singles and Rohan Bopanna and Divij Sharan for doubles. “We won’t be holding a camp this time around like we have done ahead of previous ties,” the AITA secretary general said.
“The weather conditions and grass court conditions are not much different from here. So it’s just a matter of assembling here, going across, playing the tie and coming back.”The last time the two countries met was in 2006, when India edged out Pakistan 3-2 after a marathon five-set, fifth rubber at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai. An Indian tennis team last visited Pakistan in 1964, with the visitors securing a 4-0 victory.