Philippines calls for move of Pakistan Davis Cup faceoff to Manila

The officials from the Philippine Lawn Tennis Association (Philta) reportedly asked the Davis Cup organizers to move its upcoming playoff against Pakistan from Lahore to Manila due to security fears.

Both Philippines and Pakistan have won their respective first round Davis Cup matches earlier this month and will face each other this coming July for the regional playoff semifinals.

Philta Vice President Randy Villanueva said that the attack on Sri Lanka’s cricket players in the Pakistani city of Lahore on March 3 had resulted to deaths of 6 police officers and injured a number of players. This incident serves as a risk for the sports team to visit Pakistan.

“We asked them to be moved here to the Philippines because of the safety of our players and because of recent events in Pakistan, especially the cricket team of Sri Lanka getting attacked,” Villanueva was quoted as saying.

Villanueva added that three of the players from the Philippines have dual citizenship (Filipino and American) and could be a factor of being targeted due to their U.S. passports.

The first round tie between Pakistan and Oman was supposed to be staged in Lahore but was moved to the Omani capital of Muscat. A junior tennis event was postponed in light of the events.

The winner of the Pakistan-Philippines Davis Cup match will progress to the Asia/Oceania Group Two finals and will meet either Indonesia or New Zealand. The winner of the regional group will progress to Group One next year.