The New Zealand Davis Cup team has been controversially awarded a victory against Pakistan in their Asia/Oceania Group II second round contest at the neutral venue, Pun Hlaing Golf and Country Club in Yangon, Myanmar.During the second match on day one, ITF referee Asitha Attygalla, from Sri Lanka, called the contest off and gave the result to New Zealand as a result of the court being unplayable.There was a hole by the baseline which New Zealand team captain Alistair Hunt said was "about an inch deep and half a foot wide".For Hunt and the team the situation is unusual and quite a challenge in the fact they have won a Davis Cup tie 4-1, but have played only one full match.Earlier, Artem Sitak had lost the first singles 7-5 3-6 6-2 7-5 to Aqeel Khan in a contest played in extreme heat. Hunt said Sitak struggled to get his footing right for serving where the hole was on the court.
"It definitely affected Artem. It was just behind the baseline and he had to change his footing for his serving. I've never seen anything like this in 25 years of Davis Cup. It was dangerous and someone was going to hurt themselves. We weren't the ones complaining. It was totally the referee's decision."
As for the Kiwis and their remaining days in Myanmar, Hunt says it's just a case of keeping quiet. "It's been a very average week of Davis Cup, we're just keeping our heads down. It's not entirely great over here."
The second singles had been fairly close between Dan King-Turner and Asiam Qureshi, with the Pakistan player winning the first set 6-3 and then the New Zealander the second 6-3. Qureshi led 3-0 in the third set when the contest was called off.
Eyes correspondent Mr Iquibal Was-it In has sent this report.
"Goodness Gracious Mr Eye The news is All Bad for Pakistan.Referee Asthma pulled up stumps when Dan King Turner had his big toe caught in the hole in the baseline.Earlier our hero Aqeel Khan ranked 1500 and who cares in the world defeated Mr Sitak a full time touring pro.Mr Khan really plays as a hobby and to help Pakistan who has even less funding available than the New Zealanders.The small crowd knew somthing was up when Team New Zealand threw an underarm delivery at the Ref.For me I knew Mr Hunt the NZ Davis Cup Captain was worried he had dropped his mobile phone a number of times during the first match.Mr Marcel Marceau was making a lot of signs with his hands and fingers directed at the Ref Mr Asthma.Thank you Mr Eye for pointing out that I was calling the old CEO of New Zealand tennis Mr Stan Walker and I should try to voice any protest to the Current CEO Mr Steve Johns as he has had experience in lifesaving be it in the water and he may feel sympathy for Pakistan.As you can imagine Mr Eye Groundsman Was-he-a-dick was devestated he made a statement in Pakastani that I can not repeat in english!Number 1 New Zealand Player who thrashed our players last time did not travel to play Mr Statham is not happy with some New Zealand officials and after today I can understand why.Mr Hunt and his team knew there was only one way out of winning this match and that was to appeal to Mr Asthma who delivered the knockout blow!My friend Mr Alifarku said this was not in the spirit of the game,New Zealand said that the ball was doing different things for their players but he pointed out to the High Performance team that Pakistan players hit the same ball on the same court.Obviously the High Performance team could not comprehend this and looked blank when questioned why this freak of nature was just happening to their players.Mr Eye Pakistan tennis and its supporters are protesting this decision , as they offered to repair the small patch in question .This protest will be heard by the ITF. It is with a sadden Heart I make my last report to you Mr Eye but will keep your readers informed on any news regards to our protest.----Iquibal Was-it In
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Really dumb!!!, how could this happen, was the court inspected prior to the match?. Tennis in this country is a joke and it seems the Parkistan Tennis Association, are even more stupid!
ReplyDeleteNews Flash, CEO of NZ Tennis Stevie Johns said today that at the next I.T.F.,Conference he will be calling on them to introduce 'Under Water Tennis'. cheers Terry Hamilton.
ReplyDeleteThe ITF will have massive egg on their face. They approved Myanmar as the nation to host the tie and then a highly respected ITF ref has to call the game off.
ReplyDeleteNot NZ's fault and very strange there is a comment saying tennis in NZ is a joke.Why? It's not the players fault or Al Hunt either.
I could start by giving you a number of reasons why Tennis is a Joke in this Country.If I get a spare week I will try and put it down on paper.
ReplyDeleteGo ahead Tony give the reasons, but then give constructive reasons on how to improve it too and realise there's more to running a sport in this country than just top level or juniors too. There's many, many requirements through government organisations etc which take hours each week as well.
ReplyDeleteNZ deserved this win for no reason other than Pakistan are wholly responsible for the venue as the host nation. In the same way football teams are dished out losses if their home crowd taunts opponents racially or otherwise there is no-one here to blame but the hosts.
ReplyDeleteSo far as NZ tennis is concerned. They have been away with the fairies since Jeff Simpson and his mates spent more of their time protecting their own jobs than they did achieving anything in the late 80s-mid 90s and screwed a generation of tennis talent. Their results speak for themselves - 15 years without a single credible player to come through under their guidance.
this is the biggest problem with the sport in NZ is that everyone keeps harping back to previous eras and doing the 'he said, she said, he didn't select me, I never liked them etc'
ReplyDeleteNothing will ever improve if people keep going back and blaming everyone and anyone.
What's wrong with remembering just how good this tiny country used to be?, perhaps the officials running Tennis could learn something from the past.Go to any tennis Club and ask 'who is the NZ No 1 male player'?, you would find very few people would know. Unfortunately we have to get rid of the current C.E.O,and basically have a good clean out, Cheers Craig.
DeleteFeel free to remember good times etc, but if we constantly reflect on the past and want to live in it then there is little hope for the future.
DeleteIt doesn't matter whether people can name the top player. It would be good if they could, however things have changed since the "good old days" The break up of Eastern Europe, the sport becoming a real Olympic sport, Central Asia becoming more independant, east Asia want to be strong etc, etc.
It strikes me as reactionary people say get rid of ceo, staff and anyone associated with the sport. What good does that do without substance and realising that there is more to running a sport than getting rid of people you don't like.
I'm not saying this is the best staff to take care of the sport, but to just get rid of them for the sake of it makes no sense. You have to have good people to take their place and to work withing the boundaries of running a sport in NZ.
And ex players very rarely make good administrators.