By Ronnie Nathanielsz

THE Philippine Tennis Association has decided to request the Davis Cup Committee to transfer its scheduled 2nd round Davis Cup Asia-Oceania Zone Group II tie against Pakistan to either Manila or a neutral venue.

The matches are scheduled to be played in Lahore from July 10 to 12.

The Philta board, under its president Lito Villanueva, met on Wednesday and decided to send a letter to Davis Cup Committee executive director Paul Smith requesting that the tie be moved out of Pakistan in the wake of the peace and order situation following the recent terrorist attack on the Sri Lanka cricket team.

The attack resulted in the death of eight individuals, mostly police security men.

Standard Today, www.insidesports.ph and Viva Sports learned that an ITF junior tournament scheduled to be played in Pakistan had also been called off. Previously, both cricket and hockey matches by visiting teams were also called off due to the security problem.

The first-round tie between Pakistan and Oman was shifted from Lahore to Muscat, Oman, by the Davis Cup Committee, although it made no difference as Pakistan, bannered by star player Aisan Quereshi, who is ranked no. 298 in the world in singles and no. 99 in doubles, won the tie handily, 4-1.

The Philippines also beat a strong Hong Kong squad anchored by Martin Sayer, who first won a Grade V juniors tournament at the old Rizal Racquet Club in 2004, by an identical 4-1 margin behind the heroics of no. 1 Cecil Mamiit, who won both his singles matches and partnered newcomer Treat Huey, a Fil-Am to win the crucial doubles.

Both Mamiit and Huey were at the Philta board meeting and although the no. 1 Filipino netter has declined commenting on the situation, both he and Huey are US-educated Fil-Americans which may bring another dimension to security concerns.

In switching the venue of the cup tie, Smith informed Pakistan Tennis Federation president Dilawart Abbas about the decision. ?In the light of recent terrorist activities in your country, the ITF has completed a full examination of the current situation and has taken advice from many sources including our external security consultancy, which has done comprehensive security risk analysis of holding the tie in Pakistan. This report was the basis of an in-depth discussion of the situation by the Davis Cup Committee at their meeting in Mar del Plata,? at which a decision was reached not to play in Pakistan.