Tennis

ITF Snubs AITA, Refuses To Shift Or Postpone Davis Cup Tie Against Pakistan

In a big snub to India’s national tennis federation, the world governing body ITF on Wednesday refused to either postpone or shift the Davis Cup tie against Pakistan out of Islamabad. The International Tennis Federation (ITF) has communicated to the All India Tennis Association (AITA) that timings or the venue for the September 14-15 tie won’t change as of now. Earlier in the day, AITA had asked ITF to either postpone the tie or take it to a neutral venue “suo moto” given the current diplomatic tension between the two countries.

Instead, the ITF has shared their security plans with AITA and offered them to have a discussion on Monday with their security consultants.

“They have shared their security plans and based on that, they feel the timings (dates) or the venue need not shift. They are not understanding the tension that has been prevailing between the two nations,” AITA secretary general Hironmoy told PTI.

“We had asked for a dialogue with the ITF Board but they said the Board does not deal with Davis Cup matters, it’s the Davis Cup committee which does. So ITF security advisors and Executives will now discuss the matter with us on August 19.

“Now we will try to convince that they postpone the tie or provide us an alternate venue. If they do not agree, we will take a call on Monday what to do next,” Chatterjee said.

It has been learnt that India’s non-playing captain Mahesh has requested the AITA to include him also in the conference call so that he could speak on behalf of the players.

Sources told PTI that Bhupathi has even forwarded a communication to the ITF through AITA, trying to convince them on a neutral venue. When contacted, Bhupathi neither confirmed nor denied the information.

The AITA, taking a more aggressive stance than earlier, had said it wants the ITF to take the call to shift the venue based on the current situation and expressed surprise that the governing body is asking India to make a request as “this responsibility rests with the ITF”.

The All India Tennis Association taking a more aggressive stance than earlier, said it would not request for a neutral venue for the Asia Oceania Zone 1 tie on September 14-15 as is being asked by the International Tennis Federation

Recent Posts

Inside The Steelers Ep.1

DafaNews sponsored team, Haryana Steelers finished 5th place in the league stage last 7th season.… Read More

May 11, 2023

‘You have to have that dog in you’ – England star Bellingham ready to go to ‘war’ in crucial France World Cup quarter-final clash

England midfielder Jude Bellingham has opened up on his competitive nature ahead of the Three… Read More

December 6, 2022

Portugal’s boss Santos explains why he dropped Cristiano Ronaldo for World Cup clash against Switzerland & claims forward ‘set the example as captain’

Portugal boss Fernando Santos has said he dropped Cristiano Ronaldo for tactical reasons against Switzerland… Read More

December 6, 2022

‘He can still improve’ – Giroud fires England Mbappe warning ahead of World Cup quarter-final clash

Olivier Giroud has warned England that there is still more to come from Kylian Mbappe… Read More

December 6, 2022

WATCH: Unbelievable! Goncalo Ramos replaces Ronaldo for Portugal and completes hat trick in World Cup last-16 match against Switzerland

Portugal youngster Goncalo Ramos replaced Cristiano Ronaldo against Switzerland and stole the headlines by scoring… Read More

December 6, 2022

Morocco hero Amrabat endured 3am injection from physio to ensure he was fit for Spain World Cup last-16 upset

Morocco's Sofyan Amrabat has revealed he was up until 3am having injections the night before… Read More

December 6, 2022