Pakistan tennis player Aisam-ul-Haq terms ITF's decision 'discriminatory'

Pakistan’s ace tennis player Aisam-ul-Haq has expressed his disappointment over the International Tennis Federation's (ITF) decision and has termed it “discriminatory” against Pakistan which has left him “heartbroken”.

The ITF on Monday had announced to shift Pakistan’s Davis Cup tie against India to a neutral venue. The tie was initially scheduled to be held in Islamabad on September 14th and 15th but was later postponed till November 29th and 20th.

However, the ITF has now announced that this month’s Davis Cup tie between the rival nations must be played at a neutral venue after the latest advice from ITF's security advisors.

"Following a review of the latest advice given by the ITF's independent security advisors, the Davis Cup Committee has taken the decision that the Davis Cup Asia/Oceania Group I tie between Pakistan and India on 29-30 November 2019, must be played at a neutral venue," the ITF said in a statement.

"The ITF and Davis Cup Committee's first priority has always been the safety of athletes, officials and spectators and the decision was made on this basis," it added.

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Needless to say, the decision brought disappointment for Aisam which he voiced in an exclusive video for Geo TV.

“It is shocking, discouraging, disappointing and heartbreaking news that ITF has decided to move Davis Cup tie against India outside Pakistan to a neutral venue,” Aisam said.

“I don’t see any reason to move this tie to a neutral venue when ITF itself passed all security checks in Pakistan,” he added.

Aisam highlighted how Pakistan hosted some top international events recently which were held peacefully.

“The Sri Lankan cricket team had visited recently in Pakistan the Royal couple was here, the Bangladesh women team was here, and Pakistan hosted other events as well.

"So, I don’t see any reason why Pakistan is being penalized for something that we haven’t even done or even involved in. Sadly, disappointingly all the human rights violation are being done by Indian government in Kashmir but we have to pay the price for that,” he argued.

The tennis star said that he was looking forward to the tie against India as it would have also helped both the countries come together.

“We were welcoming the Indians, we issued their visas, we were totally ready for the tie. I am personally very disappointed. I was looking forward to play at home and was pumped up for this tie.

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“This tie would have gone a long way in bringing the two nations together and sending a positive and happy loving message. It would have helped us as well in sending a positive message to the world,” Aisam highlighted.

He also suggested that the ITF decision against Pakistan is discriminatory because Pakistan is not among influenced countries in Tennis world.

“We have been discriminated. We were discriminated like this in past too during the tie against New Zealand. What’s happening right now is totally unfair.

"If the same tie was scheduled to be played in India then we would have been forced to go to India and play the tie. I don’t think ITF would have taken the same decision. Few years back Australia refused to travel to India for the security reasons and they had to give walk-over to India,” Aisam mentioned.

“It is high time that we take a stand as a nation because today its India refusing to come, tomorrow another country would make the same excuse and we’ll go back to 15 years.” he urged.

However, the tennis star added that Pakistan shouldn’t let India get a walk-over.