Davis Cup 2010 Tennis : Pakistan takes on New Zealand Aisam Ul Haq returns
The Davis cup is the biggest international team competition in sports. It is contested among teams of tennis players from countries around the world. This event is run by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and is based on countries challenging each other in a knock-out format.
It has been an honour for Pakistan to be a part of the Davis Cup 2010. Pakistan has advanced to the second round of the Asia/Oceania Zone Group II in the tournament, after beating Hong Kong and is now up against New Zealand who got past Sri Lanka. The first round of the Davis Cup Asia/Oceania Group II was held from the 5th of March to the 7th of March. The second round tie between Pakistan and New Zealand is now scheduled from the 9th of July to the 11th of July and it was meant to take place in Pakistan. However, due to the ongoing security issues in Pakistan, the ITF decided to shift the venue from Pakistan to somewhere in New Zealand.
The team from New Zealand approached the ITF concerned about the security problems which they may have faced if the tie was to be held in Pakistan, and that the venue should be changed to New Zealand or to some neutral country with which both the teams felt comfortable with. Even though Pakistan had been a target of several major terrorist attacks at that time of the year, the Pakistan Association still wanted to host the event. However, due to ongoing security issues and bomb blasts which occurred in Pakistan during the month of March, the Pakistani Government gave up all hopes on being able to host the event. The ITF made its final decision to overturn the usual hosting schedule and declared that the Pakistan tie against New Zealand would now be held in New Zealand.
The Pakistani team will now be travelling to New Zealand in order to compete in the Asia/Oceania Group II second round. The venue for this upcoming round has been decided to be Taranaki, which is a region in the west of New Zealand’s North Island. The two nations have faced each other twice before, with the score level at 1-1. So it will be a tough competition between two talented teams.
Now that the tie is not being played in Pakistan, it is somewhat of a disadvantage to the Pakistani team because they are no longer destined to play in their homeland, where it is obvious that they would have felt more comfortable and maybe even performed better. However, luckily for the Pakistani team, Aisam Ul Haq, who is ranked number one in Pakistani tennis and has recently become the first Pakistani tennis player to have ever reached the quarterfinals in Wimbledon, has declared that he will be taking part in the tie against New Zealand. He has told the public that now his first priority is to help Pakistan get through the second round at the Davis Cup 2010. In order for Pakistan to gain success in this round, Aisam has made it clear to the other team members that this cannot entirely be a one man show and that team work is required. For this all of the players must be in a fit condition.
“Depending just on me will not get the job done. All the players will have to perform”, is what Aisam told The Express Tribune in an interview from London.
New Zealand made it into the second round of the Asia/Oceania Zone Group II after winning a hard fought battle against Sri Lanka, with the score 3-2 in the first round. The result was decided in the final match, where Jose Statham recorded a straight sets victory over Rajeev Rajapakse. Success in the first round had been challenging for New Zealand, but now that New Zealand will be playing in their homeland, a better performance is expected from their players.
It will be an extremely tough competition between these two very talented teams – Pakistan and New Zealand, and only one team will make it into the running for winning the Davis Cup 2010.
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