体坛英语新闻：Pakistan starts training camp for Davis Cup tie against Vietnam

ISLAMABAD, Jan. 29 (Xinhua) -- Pakistan on Wednesday kicked off its training camp for the national team's preparations for upcoming important Davis Cup tie against Vietnam next month, officials said.

According to officials of the Pakistan Tennis Federation (PTF), the camp started in the federal capital Islamabad that would prepare the team for their tie against Vietnam to be held on Feb. 14-16 in Vietnam.

Earlier, the PTF announced to hold the training camp on Feb.1, but now it started three days before the schedule time.

National Champion Aqeel Khan, told media that he was in form and would try hard to get success for the team against the Vietnam side.

"We are in good shape with high moral, especially the possible presence of Aisam-ul-Haq would strengthen the team more," said Khan.

According to an earlier announcement by the PTF, Aisam will not participate in the camp and will feature in the competition against Vietnam, but some local media reports said that Aisam would not be available for the competition.

Local media quoted Aisam's father Ihtesham-ul-Haq as saying that Aisam is annoyed due to PTF's decision to change the dates of the tie against Vietnam from Jan. 31-Feb. 2 to Feb.14-16 after Vietnam requested to do so.

"The PTF management did not consult Aisam which enraged Aisam because he will be busy in his international assignments in Netherland and France from Feb.10 to 17," said Ihtesham.

There was no response on the media reports from the federation.

Analysts believed that the absence of seasoned player Aisam would affect the performance of the team in the competition.

The team has also some other talented players including Aqeel Khan, Yasir Khan and Muhammad Abid along with Usman Ejaz and Ahmed Chaudhry as reserved players in the camp.

Pakistan and Vietnam have competed against each other three times previously in Davis Cup, but there was only one encounter in the past 40 years that was in 2008.

According to statistics, Pakistan leads 2-1 against Vietnam by winning the last two ties.

Pakistan thrashed Vietnam 3-0 in Iran in 2008 after standing victorious by 4-1 in Eastern zone first round in Malaysia in 1973. Earlier, Vietnam defeated Pakistan 4-1 in their first-ever Eastern zone group B first round clash in 1965.