India’s tennis chiefs said on Wednesday they were confident Australia would be suitably punished for forfeiting the Davis Cup tie in Chennai for security reasons.
The International Tennis Federation’s (ITF) Davis Cup committee is due to decide on May 22 the penalties to be slapped on Australia for refusing to travel to India for the May 8-10 tie.All-India Tennis Association (AITA) secretary-general Anil Khanna said Australia, a member of the ITF Board of Directors, would be aware of the potential consequences of forfeiting the tie.
“AITA is very clear that the ITF has always taken a very firm and correct stand on non-participation of nations in both the Fed Cup and Davis Cup,” Khanna said in a statement.
“Nations have been banned in the past for failures to play in ties.”
The Indian association said the decision would be “precedent-setting” for future Davis Cup and Fed Cup matches, as Australia had refused to play even though a security team designated by the ITF had given Chennai the green light.
“The AITA is confident that ITF will keep this point in mind,” it said.
Tennis Australia (TA) said last month it will appeal against any suspension of its 28-time Davis Cup champion squad, adding it was confident of avoiding relegation.
TA president Geoff Pollard said the ITF and India could not meet a list of security requirements the TA had sought for the Australian team, with their concerns heightened by India’s month-long elections currently under way.
“They (ITF) have got the power to do all sorts of things, but anything they do would be subject to the rights of appeal,” Pollard had said.
Under the competition regulations, the ITF can suspend Australia for a year, but Pollard said he instead expected a financial penalty of no more than 25,000 US dollars.
Australia’s boycott of the Asia/Oceania group 1 tie meant India advanced automatically to the World Group play-offs to be held in September.
Source: http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/sports/143188/india-seeks-davis-cup-punishment-for-australia