AITA expect positive verdict from Davis Cup committee over Pakistan tie
The All India Tennis Association is expecting a “positive” verdict from the Davis Cup committee over India’s security concerns over travelling to Pakistan and play the Davis Cup tie. The AITA had earlier written to the International Tennis Federation to reschedule the tie or shift the venue.
After continuous concerns by the Indian tennis squad regarding their travel to Islamabad, the AITA had written to ITF elaborating their concerns and pointing out numerous previous incidents when a tie was shifted to a different venue over security concerns.
While AITA had scheduled a meeting with the security advisers from ITF, it was cancelled with the international body asking the Davis Cup committee to deliberate on the matter. The committee has eight members chaired by Egypt's Ismal El Shafei, who would discuss proceedings on Wednesday.
And AITA General Secretary Hironmoy Chatterjee sounded optimistic about the pending decision. “"The committee members are from different parts of the world so they will set up a appropriate time today that suits everyone. Then they will inform us of their decision," Chatterjee said, reported Reuters.
"It's a positive, yes. If there was no merit why will the committee discuss. We have given them more than enough," he further added.
India didn’t have many problems with the tie's schedule on Sept 14-15 tie scheduled in Islamabad, before India decided to remove "special status" from Jammu and Kashmir. What followed was a terrible unrest with Pakistan expelling India's ambassador and suspending bilateral trade and all public transport links with India.
The two nations have already gone at war over Kashmir since 1947 and came extremely close to a third one after the Pulwama attack. While the ITF has shared security arrangements with AITA stating that they were satisfied with it, India have their own doubts.
