BANGALORE: Vijay Amritraj, the man who led India to two Davis Cup finals in 1987 and 74, reacted with a mixture of shock and sadness to Australia's decision to pull out of the Asia-Oceania Group I third round tie in Chennai next month.
"This is a first that any team is refusing to travel to India for a Davis Cup tie. It has never happened and shouldn't have happened," Amritraj, who has worn many hats including that of Indias sporting ambassador, said.The closest we came to anything like this was in 1973, when we asked the ITF permission to play Pakistan at a neutral venue.
Permission was granted and we played them in Kuala Lumpur. Obviously what happened in 1974 when we conceded the Davis Cup final was a political situation, and that needs to be viewed differently."Amritraj rubbished Australia's stand of Chennai and India being "unsafe", particularly during the election period. "That Chennai is not safe is farfetched," the US-based Amritraj said.
"We've been having an ATP Tour event in Chennai for 14 years, and 90 per cent of the participants are foreigners and Australians have played there too."The world situation is such that greater and greater attention is being paid to security and I don't think we would've taken any chances on that. We had government backing too."
The Aussies had sought to explain their stand by constantly comparing the Davis Cup situation to the Indian Premier League which was moved out of the country because it clashed with elections.Amritraj, however, wasn't buying any of that.
He said: "The Davis Cup will take a maximum of one week (the actual event including the draw is 4 days) to conduct. Its two teams with a maximum of 10 members each, including the support staff. Its limited to one city, one stadium. With the IPL the geography, the time and the amount of personnel required is far greater. You cannot even compare the two events."
On the flip side India is through to the World Group play-offs in September, the draw for which will be made on May 12. "We're now in the relegation round," Amritraj said. "But this is no way to make it. This is not the way that we wanted to contest the World Group play-offs."
http://sports.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/4452543.cms?TOI_Sports_mostread
"This is a first that any team is refusing to travel to India for a Davis Cup tie. It has never happened and shouldn't have happened," Amritraj, who has worn many hats including that of Indias sporting ambassador, said.The closest we came to anything like this was in 1973, when we asked the ITF permission to play Pakistan at a neutral venue.
Permission was granted and we played them in Kuala Lumpur. Obviously what happened in 1974 when we conceded the Davis Cup final was a political situation, and that needs to be viewed differently."Amritraj rubbished Australia's stand of Chennai and India being "unsafe", particularly during the election period. "That Chennai is not safe is farfetched," the US-based Amritraj said.
"We've been having an ATP Tour event in Chennai for 14 years, and 90 per cent of the participants are foreigners and Australians have played there too."The world situation is such that greater and greater attention is being paid to security and I don't think we would've taken any chances on that. We had government backing too."
The Aussies had sought to explain their stand by constantly comparing the Davis Cup situation to the Indian Premier League which was moved out of the country because it clashed with elections.Amritraj, however, wasn't buying any of that.
He said: "The Davis Cup will take a maximum of one week (the actual event including the draw is 4 days) to conduct. Its two teams with a maximum of 10 members each, including the support staff. Its limited to one city, one stadium. With the IPL the geography, the time and the amount of personnel required is far greater. You cannot even compare the two events."
On the flip side India is through to the World Group play-offs in September, the draw for which will be made on May 12. "We're now in the relegation round," Amritraj said. "But this is no way to make it. This is not the way that we wanted to contest the World Group play-offs."
http://sports.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/4452543.cms?TOI_Sports_mostread
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