ISLAMABAD – The Pakistan Tennis Federation (PTF) will lodge official complaint with the International Tennis Federation (ITF) against Australian-based Sri Lankan origin referee Ashita Ajigala, who awarded the Davis Cup Asia-Oceania Group-II tie to New Zealand without adopting the standard procedure.
The inside sources in the PTF confirmed to this scribe that complete evidence against Ashita Ajigala had been gathered from Myanmar and now after collecting all that stuff, they would write to the ITF and ensure that justice should be done and the accused referee, who not only brought the game into dispute but also drew huge backlash from different quarters for the international body itself, should be given exemplary punishment for his unjust and unethical act.
The sources, who were present at the venue and are the eye witnesses of the entire saga aid, said it seemed that the match referee was not hired by the ITF as he was fully backing the Kiwis and it was very much evident with the fact that he was a paid person from the opponent side. The referee didn't even bother to consult with ground staff and was in a hurry to award the tie to New Zealand and accomplish the task given to him.
It was very hard to digest that the Kiwis team which was suffering the worst defeat at the hands of Pakistan team and had lost their first match and ready to lose the second one too. But the decision of corrupt referee changed the whole scenario as he awarded the tie to Kiwis team without any solid reason.
PTF president Syed Kaleem Imam had lodged very strong protest with the ITF on the same day and had constructive repeated dialogues with Justine Albert, head of Davis Cup and Fed Cup of the ITF, who had assured of conducting a fair inquiry. But all the expectations of positive outcome came down to earth as the ITF official flatly refused all the just and right allegations levelled against match referee and not only she justified his action but also sent a detailed email to the PTF justifying all the actions of the referee.
The PTF must not sit back and take this incident lightly as they must come with all cylinders firing and lodged complaints at all the forums and try to ensure that the justice should be done and the said official should be banned for life from conducting any refereeing assignment in future and Pakistan should be either given the chance to restart the tie from same position, or that particular match should be given to Kiwis and next round of matches should be conducted. Pakistani players have that quality to win the tie for the country in any given condition and place.
Meanwhile, the tennis lovers had planned to hold protest rallies in front of Sri Lankan High Commission, New Zealand Embassy and Australian High Commission to show their displeasure over the unjust treatment given to Pakistan, but the PTF managed to calm down the situation and assured them that the federation would take up the issue on all forums and ensure the justice would be given to the host nation.