Pakistan and China to battle it out in Davis Cup

By Malik Gunatilleke

The Davis Cup by BNP Paribas Asia/Oceania Group 1 first round encounter between Pakistan and China will begin this weekend at the Sri Lanka Tennis Association (SLTA) courts in Colombo. 

The tie, which will be held from 4 to 6 March, will be hosted by SLTA at the request of the Pakistan Tennis Federation.

Both teams boast a group of highly skilled players with China looking the stronger on paper. 

Veterans of group 1, China will field an experienced team comprising of Di Wu, Yan Bai and Ze Zhang who have international rankings of 172, 206 and 195 respectively. Mao Xin Gong and Team Captain Wei Jiang complete the five-man team. 

Pakistan on the other hand will field a very experienced team which will include the likes of Aisam Qureshi and Aqueel Khan along with Mohamed Abid and Yasir Khan. Qureshi and Aqueel Khan are currently ranked 1213 and 1774 in the singles circuit but it’s Qureshi’s world doubles ranking of 44 that shows off Pakistan’s real strength.

Although China may have the edge in terms of the singles matches against Pakistan based on rankings, Pakistan Captain Qureshi was confident about Pakistan’s ability to match up against China with Sri Lankan conditions suiting the South Asian team.

“The Chinese are definitely better than us on paper. The reason we wanted them to come to Sri Lanka too is because they aren’t used to these conditions and this is probably their first time playing here,” he said. Conditions in Sri Lanka have been notoriously tough for travelling teams and the Pakistan skipper said that his team struggled as well when they played the Sri Lankan team a few years ago. However, the Pakistan team is expected to manage the conditions far better their opponents.

“On hard courts I think they would have had a 90% chance of beating us,” conceded Qureshi. “However, on clay I think that 90% becomes about a 60% chance. Clay is not our strength either but we’ve been very successful on it having beaten Sri Lanka and Kuwait 3-2. Sri Lanka has been a charm for us.” The Pakistan team, managed by Shahazad Alvi, thanked SLTA and the Sri Lankan Government for hosting the two teams following a troubled spell for international sporting in their home country. Having been denied the opportunity to host a home tie in Pakistan for 11 years, Qureshi believes it is time to start allowing Pakistan to host home ties in order for the team to benefit from the home advantage.

The Chinese team, led by Wei Jiang, were confident about their chances in the tie stating that they were well prepared for the challenge ahead. However, concerns still remain regarding their ability to handle the conditions as Jiang highlighted the fact that the humidity would be one of the biggest tests for the team.

“We will focus of trying to make it to the playoffs this year. The last couple of years we haven’t been able to achieve that. The environment here though is very different as it is very hot.”

Jiang added that the Chinese team are well aware of the challenge posed by some of the Pakistan players having faced some of them in 2014.

The referee for the tie will be Javier Moreno from Spain with Ahmed Abdel Azim (Egypt) and Amorn Duangpinkum (Thailand) as the chair umpires. Leena Nageshkar (India) will be the Chief of Umpires while Anjana de Silva (Sri Lanka) will be her deputy.

Meanwhile, the official dinner for the Davis Cup tie between these two nations will be held at the Galadari Hotel in Colombo while the official draw will be held today at the SLTA. The opening ceremony will be held on 4 March at the SLTA.

Dinith Pathiraja is the Tournament Director for the tie while Cinnamon Red has signed up as the official hotel for the two teams.