NEW DELHI: Confusion over the venue of the India-Pakistan Davis Cup tie will be solved within this week after the International Tennis Federation (ITF) sent a letter to both All India Tennis Association (AITA) and Pakistan Tennis Federation (PTF) informing them that the match will take place at a neutral venue.
PTF had filed an appeal with the ITF over their initial decision to move the November 29-30 tie out of Islamabad and argued that the event-free opening of the Kartarpur corridor on Saturday showed that the country had no security threats and could host the Indian contingent.
AITA have been in constant touch with ITF and have always maintained that it would not be safe for the players to go and play there. The ITF said it had acted on the recommendations of its independent security advisors. The neutral venue will now be selected by ITF and they will let both sides know within the week. ITF are aware of the fact that there is very little time left for procurement of visas and they will choose the venue accordingly. “We support ITF’s stance and have always maintained the same. Now, hopefully we will get to know the venue within this week and can start the visa process as fast as possible. We would also like our players to reach the location a bit early so as to acclimatize to the conditions,” a top AITA official said. Following the ITF mail, AITA have now called for the selection committee meeting on Thursday and will sit down to choose the strongest possible team.
The top players who had refused to travel to Pakistan — Ramkumar Ramanathan, Sumit Nagal, Sasi Mukund and Rohan Bopanna made themselves available for selection after the tie was moved to a neutral venue and the national federation envisages no further hurdles in relation to selecting the team. “Our captain Rohit Rajpal has already spoken to the players and they have responded positively. I do not think there will be any problems and we hope to pick the strongest unit,” the official added. Leander Paes is also in the fray after confirming his availability irrespective of the venue.
It will be interesting to see how the team shapes up with the likes of Saketh Myneni, Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan, Arjun Kadhe,Vijay Sundar Prashanth, Manish Sureshkumar and Sidharth Rawat also in contention after raising their hands for national duty.