CHENNAI: THE last one week has seen both the Pakistan Tennis Federation (PTF) as well as the All India Tennis Association (AITA) write letters to the International Tennis Federation (ITF). While AITA wrote to the ITF urging them to move the upcoming Asia-Oceania Group I tie to a neutral venue, the PTF wrote to the ITF saying Islamabad is a safe sporting venue. But it has been learnt that the ITF has refused to respond to both the bodies, indicating that they will be deciding on the fate of the tie only on November 4, the day their independent security advisors are scheduled to re-examine the security situation.
“We have heard nothing so far from ITF for the letter we sent last week,” AITA general secretary Hironmoy Chatterjee told this daily on Tuesday. It was a sentiment echoed by PTF president Salim Saifullah Khan. “No, ITF has not told us anything,” he said. While Khan did not want to get into a debate regarding the wider dynamics, he was firmly of the opinion that the tie ‘should go ahead in Islamabad’. “I cannot tell you whether the match will go ahead in Islamabad or not... but I can tell you it should go ahead here.”
In recent weeks, PTF has become increasingly confident that ITF will not see anything wrong with the security situation. There has been an increase in sporting activity across Pakistan, a fact that was highlighted in Khan’s letter to the ITF. “(...) over 30 players from 15 different countries are in Islamabad these days for the back-to-back ITF Junior International events. Pakistan Squash Federation (PSF) has been hosting international events on a regular basis for the last so many years and are ready to repeat that,” as reported by The News, a Pakistan daily.
The letter also pointed to the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) successfully hosting Sri Lanka in a three-match ODI and three-match T20I series apart from mentioning Prince William and Prince Kate’s visit to the country.
From an Indian perspective, little has changed since political developments over Jammu and Kashmir in the first week of August. The players — it is believed that there is now a gag order in place so that they don’t speak to the media on the issue — have remained steadfast in their reluctance to travel there. While they have already lost Prajnesh Gunneswaran and Divij Sharan (prior commitments), the other frontline players have all conveyed to the AITA that they may be willing to go there. “We will see what happens once ITF gives the verdict on November 4,” Chatterjee said. “There will be a selection committee meeting and then we will have to select a new team based on ITF’s call. But first, we will have to see the players who have made themselves available for the tie on November 29 and 30.”
With AITA not willing to force players, they could well end up selecting a new team for this tie if it stays in Pakistan.