CHENNAI: THE teleconference meeting between the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and the All India Tennis Association (AITA) has been postponed by a day. The meeting, that was slated for Monday to further discuss the fate of the upcoming Asia-Oceania Group I Davis Cup tie, was pushed back at ITF’s insistence. “They told us today (Monday) that it would be better if the meeting is held tomorrow at 2.30 pm (7.00pm IST) London time,” AITA general secretary Hironmoy Chatterjee said.
One of the main agendas of the meeting, from an AITA perspective, is to convince the world body to move the tie out of Islamabad or at least to defer the tie to October or November. In this regard, captain Mahesh Bhupathi is expected to play a prominent role in the meeting, something Chatterjee re-iterated once again. ITF are likely to maintain their stance that it’s safe to play in Islamabad. AITA, who had been on the same page as ITF till recently, want the tie moved out as they maintain that the environment isn’t conducive following the political developments in Jammu and Kashmir.