The press conference for the Asia Oceania Zone Group 2 tie between Pakistan and Kuwait was held on the 3rd of March at the Sri Lanka Tennis Association.
Although Pakistan is the host nation the tie was decided to be played in a neutral venue due to restrictions imposed by the ITF on the tennis federation of Pakistan as far as hosting matches on local soil are concerned.
The tie which is scheduled to take place on the 6th, 7th and 8th of March will feature 2 singles, 1 doubles and 2 reverse singles rubbers that will be played on the first, second and third days respectively. All the matches will be played according to a best of 5 set format and the first team to win three of the allotted 5 matches will move forward to the next round.
The two nations have met on one previous occasion which was won effortlessly by the Pakistani team who won all 5 matches. Interestingly the current non playing captain of the Pakistan side Rashid Malik played a pivotal role in the victory winning all three of the matches he was a part of.
The press conference commenced at 11.00 am with the presence of the players and coaching staff from both teams as well as the match referee for the tie Mr. Roberto Ranieri and the coordinator of the tie Mr. Arif Qureshi.
The members of the Pakistan team comprising non playing captain Rashid Malik, Aisam Quireshi, Aqeel Khan, Mohammad Ali Khan Akbar and Ahmed Choudhary were the first to speak to the press.
When asked about why they chose Sri Lanka as a neutral venue Malik expressed the fact that his team felt the most comfortable with the Sri Lankan clay court surfaces rather than any other surface they had played on in the recent past. He also went on to add that the move to play on clay can work to their advantage since it is not a surface the Kuwaiti players are comfortable playing on. In response to questions behind the reason as to why Pakistan has stagnated in group 2 their star player Qureshi stated the following. ‘The toughest part for us has been the issue of having to play all our ties abroad for the last 7 years, this has hampered our advantage over other teams as we have lost our home court advantage of playing on grass courts which is the surface that suits are gameplay the best’. ‘This is proven by the fact that we have not lost a single tie at home for the past 10 years’ he reiterated.
The team from Kuwait comprising non playing captain Adel Al Shatti, Mohammad Ghareeb, Hassan Al Mousa, Naser Al Obaidly and Dawood Sayed Hashim were the next to be questioned by the media.
The team expressed the fact being pitted against Pakistan is no easy task but assured all those gathered that they will do their best in order to keep their nations hopes alive. When questioned about the conditions in Sri Lanka Ghareeb acknowledged the fact the extreme humidity and heat would be tough to deal with but having said he also went on to say the following. ‘We have been in Sri Lanka for the past week getting used to the conditions and personally I have played quite a bit on clay courts when traveling in Europe therefore I think we will adapt to the conditions quite well’.
The tennis that is set to be put on show will be of the finest quality and should undoubtedly be an event that should not be missed as far as the tennis fans of the island are concerned.
The papare.com takes this opportunity to wish the players from both teams the best of luck ahead of this all important Davis Cup fixture.
