'No security issue': Pakistan rejects ITF's decision to change India's Davis Cup tie to neutral venue

The Davis Cup tie between India and Pakistan is now facing a new issue as Pakistan Tennis Federation (PTF) rejects International Tennis Federation’s (ITF) decision to shift its Davis Cup tie with India to a neutral venue.

PTF has filed an appeal with the ITF challenging the decision. Their president Salim Saifullah has said that there’s no security concern and political ties between the two nations shouldn’t come in between.

“We have pointed out that we are fully prepared to host India for the Davis Cup tie as there is no security issue and nor should political ties between the two countries over-ride our chance of hosting a major event,” Saifullah told PTI.

Saifullah even cited the opening ceremony of Kartarpur corridor on Saturday and said, “I think our (PTF) case is very strong because there is no viable argument for shifting the tie to a neutral venue.”

The tie which was to take place in August was shifted to September to late November after India’s concerns over the safety of its players were raised.

Saifullah said that if their appeal was not accepted, the PTF had some other options and was working on those. 

“We may tell the ITF that we’ll not nominate the neutral venue. We’ll request it to ask AITA to choose where its outfit wants to play,” he said.