Bangkok to host Junior Davis Cup and Fed Cup instead of New Delhi
Back in 1985, the ITF had launched the World Youth Cup, the team event for best U16 juniors that has gathered more than 100 countries in the last couple of seasons. Players like Jim Courier, Michael Chang, Goran Ivanisevic, Gustavo Kuerten, Marat Safin, Lleyton Hewitt, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Jennifer Capriati and Lindsey Davenport have all participated at this event that settled in Budapest in the previous two seasons. In 2019, Junior Davis Cup and Fed Cup Finals will take place at Lake Nona, the home of the USTA National Campus that will host 16 boys' and girls' U16 squads, with Spain and the USA as title defenders.
In the next couple of months, Pre-Qualifying and Final Qualifying rounds will take place at five different regions to determine the teams that will fight for the crown in Florida, with the Asia/Oceania Final Qualifying tournament scheduled for Delhi Lawn Tennis Association Complex in New Delhi. After the recent turmoils between India and Pakistan, the events that were scheduled for April 8-13 (Davis Cup) and April 15-20 (Fed Cup) and they are now moved to Bangkok, Thailand. Pakistan's air space has been closed, causing a lot of troubles for the participating countries that would need longer flights to reach New Delhi.
Another problem would have been to provide visas for players from Pakistan and to raise funds for two tournaments with a lot of players and team staff after hosting the Davis Cup Qualifiers tie between India and Italy in February.
“If the venue was not changed, AITA had to ensure that Pakistan athletes are provided visas. And in the prevailing situation, no one can give that guarantee. So it’s a wise decision by AITA to agree to the arrangement,” the official said.
“Raising funds for tennis tournaments is very difficult in this country. We had recently hosted the Davis Cup in Kolkata and now we are short of funds. The government also does not help so we informed the ITF that we couldn’t host it,” Hironmoy Chatterjee told PTI.
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