Pakistan to host Davis Cup tie in Sri Lanka

KARACHI: Pakistan will play the first tie of Davis Cup Asia/Oceania Group-II at the clay courts of Colombo, Sri Lanka, against Kuwait from March 6-8 next year.
The Sri Lanka Tennis Association (SLTA) has responded positively to the request of the Pakistan Tennis Federation (PTF) and agreed to provide their clay courts free of cost to Pakistan for the tie.
Pakistan had been exploring for a neutral venue since Kuwait refused to visit Pakistan due to security issues. “SLTA agreed to provide us its clay courts in Colombo free of cost,” said PTF secretary Khalid Rehmani while talking to ‘The News’.
He added that PTF had informed International Tennis Federation (ITF) in this respect. “We had written to SLTA a few days back for the provision of clay courts and they happily agreed. We will now bear only the expenses of the tie as the courts are free of cost,” he said.
Khalid said that it was the home tie of Pakistan but the refusal of Kuwait that left the options of either going to Kuwait or playing the tie at a neutral venue. “We really wanted to take benefit of our grass courts. Now we have to play on clay courts. However, the clay courts will also be advantageous for us,” added Khalid.
Security issues have deprived Pakistan of the right to host Davis Cup home ties for a long time.
This was the reason the previous management used the neutral venue of Myanmar against New Zealand in 2013. It also used India as a neutral venue for their two ITF junior events in November this year.
Pakistan, seeded second in the group, will start their campaign in the group-II against Kuwait. Kuwait maintained their Zone Group II status with a first round victory over Indonesia in 2014. The other teams of the group are Indonesia, who will play against Iran; Philippines, who are to face Sri Lanka; and Lebanon, pitted against Chinese Taipei.
If Pakistan win against Kuwait, they will face either Iran or Indonesia in the second round from July 17-19.