ISLAMABAD - Pakistan Tennis Federation (PTF) president Syed Kaleem Imam has appointed PTF patron Senator Syed Dilawar Abbas as an acting chairman of Davis Cup selection committee members in the absence of Saeed Hai, who left for Dubai due to some personal engagements.
Kaleem said Pakistan Davis Cup team would be selected for the Davis Cup tie to be played against Vietnam from February 14-16, 2014 after trials to be held from November 7-12 at Senator Dilawar Abbas PTF Complex tennis courts. Mumtaz Yousaf, Nadir Mumtaz, Mushaf Kishal Zia and Arif Qureshi are the members of the committee while Khalil Chughtai will act as coordinator and Shahzad Alvi as head referee, the PTF chief added.
He said top six national ranked players were invited along with four wild card players one each from four provinces, whereas country's pride Aisamul Haq Qureshi and Pakistan No 1 Aqeel Khan were exempted from appearing in the trials.
An inside source on condition of anonymity told this scribe that some of the office bearers were not cooperating with the PTF president and they were creating hurdles and not letting him work freely, “A high-profile office holder of the PTF wants to change trial dates to accommodate his blue-eyed player as he is busy in his studies and other commitments. The said guy also took full support of chairman trials committee Saeed Hai, who instead of conducting the trials, decided to proceed to Dubai, as they want to sabotage the entire trials process.”
The source further said: “Kaleem Imam is very right in sticking to present trial dates, as he is fully aware of the procedure of visa which takes enough time, as Vietnam embassy will be busy in their traditional festivity and there will be very short time left to complete the visa formalities.”  “There should be no confusion when it comes to the announcement of trial dates are concerned. In fact, it is a very wise and timely decision to conduct trials well in time to avoid any confusions and players will also get maximum time to train as a team rather than waiting till the last moment for trials and left with no time to practice. Instead of creating hurdles, the PTF office bearers should join hands for the cause and try to facilitate players as much as they can so that they may win laurels for the country,” the sources concluded.