CHENNAI: A day after International Tennis Federation (ITF) reiterated that Pakistan’s “security risk rating” for its Davis Cup clash with India remains unchanged, All India Tennis Association (AITA) wrote a second letter to the world body on Tuesday.
Apart from spelling out the situation on the ground, it’s been reliably learnt that AITA has given the option of postponing the tie. In the letter, AITA has said that clashes have been moved in the past. After the 2001 September 11 attacks in US, the India-US match, originally slated for 21-23 September, was held between 12-14 October. They will explore this avenue further if and when their request for a teleconference with the Davis Cup committee is granted.
“We have made a request for a teleconference with the Davis Cup committee for later this week,” a top AITA official informed this daily. “If we are granted this request, we can explain our position better to them.”
AITA is also in favour of a teleconference because their belief is that sensitive issues may not be properly conveyed over back-and-forth correspondence over email.
AITA also feels that its request for another security check may have revolved around on-ground arrangements in and around the venue. AITA wants to brief them about the bigger picture, including the breakdown in the relations between both the countries.
In the letter sent to ITF on Tuesday morning, AITA has raised a number of points detailing the worsening relations between the two nations.
“We have basically told ITF about the things that have happened between the two countries in the last 10 days (after the government of India removed special status that was allocated to the state of Jammu & Kashmir).
"The air space is closed. The railway link between the two nations is closed. The bus service is no longer operational. Bilateral trade is suspended, and Pakistan has sent India’s high commissioner back to India. We have basically written these things in the letter today, and have urged them to take a closer look at the situation and not just the security arrangements at the venue.”
It looks like AITA has, for all intents and purposes, also ruled out sending players across the border for the Asia-Oceania Group I tie, slated to be held in Islamabad on September 14 and 15 unless there is drastic improvement in diplomatic relationships between the two nations within the next month.
“AITA will not place the players in harm’s way... it’s very clear that our players cannot play there in the prevailing climate. How can you expect that?”
While no players have gone on record to state that they don’t want to play in Pakistan in the current situation, it’s believed that a few might urge AITA to try their level best to shift it to a neutral venue. However, they haven’t made such a request yet.