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Davis Cup tie against Lebanon in Beirut Back To Main

KARACHI: Pakistan’s tennis players and officials are fuming over a delay by the Lebanese authorities in issuing them visas ahead of next week’s Davis Cup Asia-Oceania Group-II tie in Beirut.

Pakistan were planning to leave for Beirut on Saturday (tomorrow) in a bid to have enough time to train on red clay there before the opening round match but they are still awaiting visas from the Lebanese authorities.

“The Lebanon government due to its own security concerns is reluctant to issue visas to the Pakistani team. Thus causing embarrassment to itself and it also comes as a shock to the players and the federation as this had never happened in arranging such international tournaments,” said Mumtaz Yousuf, the Pakistan Tennis Federation (PTF) secretary, in a statement issued on Thursday.

Pakistan were supposed to host the February 10-12 tie against Lebanon in Lahore but the match was shifted to Beirut by the International Tennis federation (ITF) because of security concerns.

“Our Davis Cup team was scheduled to fly for Lebanon on the February 4 to play the Davis Cup tie which was supposed to be played in Lahore. ITF had rejected Pakistan’s offer to host the title and Lebanon was selected as the venue for playing the tie,” said Mumtaz.

Rashid Malik, Pakistan’s Davis Cup coach, told ‘The News’ that the visa hurdle is causing a lot of frustration in the Pakistani camp. “It’s really demoralizing because we were planning to have enough training days in Beirut to get familiar with red clay – the surface on which the tie will be played. Now we don’t know whether we will get ample time to train there for the match,” said Malik, a former Pakistan champion.

Pakistan are looking to beat Lebanon in their own backyard. Their optimism springs from the presence of the vastly-accomplished Aisam-ul-Haq in their four-man Davis Cup team. Aisam is attending a training camp in Islamabad after having returned home from Melbourne where he reached the quarterfinals of the men’s doubles event of the Australian Open. Along with Aisam, Aqeel Khan is also a key player in the national team.