Malik says Pakistan underdogs in India Davis Cup tie

LAHORE: Former Davis Cupper and secretary Punjab Lawn Tennis Association (PLTA) Rashid Malik believes though Pakistan are underdogs they can surprise India in the Davis Cup tie scheduled to be held in September and to be played in Islamabad.

Talking to The News, Rashid said: “Despite being at the fag-end of their careers, Aisam-ul-Haq Quereshi and Aqeel Khan still can turn the tables on their opponents. “They have the ability to beat both the age and the Indian opponents. If not beat them, they are capable to give them a tough fight and if luck favoured, they might beat India because the tie is being played on grass courts.

“On grass courts, anything can happen, like we beat Korea in the past on the same surface, similarly, we have beaten Thailand on grass. We have beaten teams China, New Zealand and Indonesia, so why not India. We can Insh-Allah beat them. But win can be achieved with proper planning.”

When the replacement of Aisam and Aqeel, he replied that nothing tangible is being done at the grass root or junior level to find and train players to fit their shoes. “The gap is getting wider day by day. Even when I was a player back in 80’s, there was even then no back-up plan. There is a 15 years gap and no one is coming out to catching up the time.” “There is nothing been done by the federations, set aside anything done by anyone else. To be true, it was the efforts of the parents and coaches that some of the few players we are seeing performing now. After taking over as secretary Punjab tennis, I asked everybody that junior development should be the main focus, but unfortunately no one listened.”

He praised the tennis camp players Abdullah Adnan, Faizan Fayyaz, Hassan, Rizwan brothers and Ehtesham Hamayun with a feeling that they have the potential to fill the gap. He further revealed that free tennis equipment is being provided to upcoming players and coaching is being also given to players at schools and district level academies in Punjab.

“For winning medals and laurels for Pakistan a proper system, planning and hard work is required to compete countries like China, Japan, Korea and even India. Start planning now first for SAF Games, Asian and then Commonwealth Games and then cling ladder up for the Olympics.”