Asian heavyweights in the tennis arena, Pakistan and China will clash for one of the most important Division I Davis Cup encounters on the 4th, 5th and 6th of March 2016 at the SLTA courts.
The Sri Lanka Tennis Association will play host for the tie upon the request of the Pakistan Tennis Association who are unable to host it in their country owing to security reasons. China has been one of the frontrunners in the Asian tennis arena and has remained in the top tier for the last few years. Currently the teams in the main tier are India, New Zealand, South Korea, Pakistan, China and Uzbekistan. Pakistan earned their way to the top tier when they defeated Thailand in a close contest at the Bangkok courts.
Photo Album – Davis Cup Press Conference
Pakistan will face a tough task when they come up against China. In order to give themselves the best possible chance in moving forward, Pakistan have recalled their senior-most players Aisam Querishi and Aqueel Khan. Alongside the senior men, Mohamed Abid and Yasir Khan will compile the rest of the playing side. Shahazad Alvi will be the manager for the team in the China tie. Pakistan’s chances will rest on Aisam Querishi who has a singles ranking of 1213 while Aisam’s doubles ranking stands at 44.
China has always produced a consistent outfit throughout their Davis Cup history and Pakistan will definitely need to up their game if they need to surpass the giants. The players Di Wu, Yan Bai and Ze Zhang have themselves international world rankings of 172, 206 and 195 respectively. The ranking itself speaks volumes of their talent and Mao Xin Gong and Wei Jiang compile the rest of the team.
It will be exciting action at the SLTA courts this weekend as the matches will officially start on the 4th of March 2016 at 10:00 a.m. The Davis cup draw consists of four singles and one doubles encounter. The doubles match will be played on Saturday and the decisive singles will take place on Sunday.
