ISLAMABAD: The Asian Tennis Federation (ATF) has announced its support for Pakistan for organising the Davis Cup tie against Oman in March 2009 and has requested the International Tennis Federation (ITF) to stage this event in Lahore at all costs. “Pakistan is a safe country and has successfully hosted eight international tennis tournaments in 2008 including the ITF International Future and ATF’s events,” Subramanium, the India-based secretary general of the ATF, has written to the ITF in this regard.
In his e-mail, which he sent to the ITF secretariat and copy to the Pakistan Tennis Federation (PTF), Subramanium has said that Pakistan has no security issues for tennis in general and for Davis Cup tie against Oman in particular.
The ATF secretary has ensured the ITF that Pakistan is a sport-loving country and there will be no harm to any player.
The PTF officials are hopeful the ITF will have to reverse its decision of shifting the Davis Cup event from Lahore to Oman.
“The international body will surely take back their decision and our case is much stronger after the ATF support,” said an official of the PTF.
He said the strong track record of the PTF was self explanatory about the issue. The Davis Cup tie between Pakistan and Oman was scheduled for March 7-9 at Lahore’s grass courts. However, the ITF last week judged Pakistan as a security threat and shifted it to Oman.
this news published by www.apakistannews.com
