Hameed lauds ITF's decision to shift events from India

KARACHI: Pakistan’s former Davis Cup captain Hameed-ul-Haq has lauded the International Tennis Federation’s (ITF) decision to strip India of its right to host Junior Davis Cup and Junior Fed Cup.

ITF has taken this decision in the wake of International Olympic Committee’s decision to put restrictions on India regarding international sports competitions there since it did not issue visas to two Pakistani shooters for a world cup in New Delhi in February.

Hameed said Pakistan were among the 16 international teams that were to participate in JDC scheduled in India from April 8-13.

“But it was quite obvious that India would not issue visas to Pakistani junior tennis players,” said Hameed.

He added that the situation would normalise in a while so this decision of ITF would help Pakistan participate in this important event.

The ITF took the decision considering the fact that the closure of Pakistan’s airspace would increase the travelling costs and time of the participating teams.

ITF decided to shift the venue from India to Thailand after consultation with All India Tennis Association (AITA), Asian Tennis Federation (ATF), and a few other stakeholders.

Hameed said that Pakistani team would have had security concerns in case the event was held in India. "This shifting of the venue to Thailand relaxed our team and now they can play this championship with high spirits," he added.