Nael selected directly, others called for Davis Cup trials

KARACHI: Pakistan Tennis Federation has invited top ranked seven players for trials to select national Davis Cup team for the next tie against Barbados scheduled in September.

According to the notification by PTF, two best players are to be selected through trials, which are to be held from May 9-12, to join the national squad along with Aisam-ul-Haq and Aqeel Khan.

However, PTF has selected Ahmad Nael Qureshi for the team directly based on his recent exceptional performances in the national and international junior tournaments. “Moving forward, the best-performing player on recent form in the national and/or international tournaments will be included in the team directly, while the top 2 juniors will be invited for the trials,” stated a PTF notification.

As per the national rankings for men as of January 14th, the players invited are M Shoaib, M Abid, Yousaf Khalil, Muzammil Murtaza, Mudasir Murtaza, Abdullah Adnan, Barkatullah, Huzaifa Abdul Rehman (Wild Card), Bilal Asim (Junior), and Hamza Roman (Junior).

The direct induction of Nael in the team and conducting trials on the basis of January’s rankings have surprised national tennis fraternity.

“Instead of going with current rankings as happens in all other games, the rankings of January 4th have been considered by PTF for the trials. What a joke! Players of January rankings will play after nine months in September,” said former Davis Cup Captain Hameed ul Haq while talking to ‘The News’.

He added that PTF is selecting national team months in advance, which is quite shocking and seems being done to favour some players. “Salar Khan and Nael both have national ranking position of 9, but Nael has been inducted directly in the team which is not justified,” said Hameed. Besides, he added, those invited for trials also include 10th ranked player Hamza Roman while Salar Khan with the ranking position of 9th has been ignored.