KARACHI, 7 March 2008 — Former Davis Cup regional Group I champions Pakistan are looking to unleash their might in the Asia-Oceana Group III tournament in Tehran next month.
With their top star Aisamul-Haq Qureshi ready to make his Davis Cup comeback, Pakistan are itching to get to the clay courts of Tehran and regain a place in the 2009 Group II contest by winning the eight-nation contest set for April 9-13.
Pakistan Tennis Federation (PTF) President Senator Dilawar Abbas told Arab News Aisam has confirmed his participation in the Davis Cup tournament and termed it as ‘great news’ for national tennis.
“We are really delighted over Aisam’s decision to play in the Davis Cup because he is our best player,” said the PTF chief.
The Pakistanis recorded some memorable results in their 2005 Davis Cup campaign to reach the World Group Playoffs for the first time but since then it has all been downhill for them. It was Aisam, who helped Pakistan reach the Davis Cup World Group qualifiers by recording key wins against top players from formidable teams like New Zealand, Thailand, Korea and China. He also featured in Pakistan’s 2-3 defeat against formidable India in a thrilling 2006 clash in Mumbai but has since been unavailable for national duty.
In his absence, Pakistan have fared poorly on the Davis Cup stage and from being the Asia-Oceania Group-I champions in 2005, they have been relegated to Group-III following successive defeats against India, Chinese Taipei, Thailand, New Zealand, China and even minnows Pacific Oceania during the last couple of years .
This year, things are looking brighter for them.
Pakistan would be among the major contenders for the title in Tehran where the competing teams include hosts Iran, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Syria, Tajikistan, United Arab Emirates and Vietnam.
Under the format, the eight teams will be divided into two pools. The top two nations from each pool will advance to a further round-robin pool of four, from which the teams finishing first and second will be promoted to Asia-Oceania Group II in 2009. The bottom two nations in each pool also advance to a further round-robin pool of four, from which the teams finishing third and fourth will relegated to Asia-Oceania Zone Group IV. Dilawar said that the PTF has pre-selected Aisam and current national champions Aqeel Khan for the Davis Cup assignment, adding that the other two spots on the four-man squad will be filled after the first phase of the training camp that gets underway in Islamabad from March 9. “We have invited eight players for the Davis Cup camp,” Dilawar said. “We will announce the squad for Tehran by March 18.”
The eight players invited for the camp are: Jalil Khan, Asim Shafik, Yasir Khan, Tanvir Ashiq, Nasir Mushtaq, Usman Ejaz, Abid Ali and Shahzad Khan.
