Pakistan has strongly objected to Tennis New Zealand's request to the International Tennis Federation (ITF) to move its upcoming Davis Cup tie against Pakistan to New Zealand or to a neutral venue due to security concerns.

Pakistan Tennis Federation secretary Rashid Khan said that New Zealand should either travel to Pakistan for the matches or forfeit the points.

Pakistan and New Zealand are scheduled to clash in an Asia-Oceania Group II semifinal in Pakistan from July 9 to 11.

Earlier, Tennis New Zealand operations manager Tracy Hall said the association had approached the ITF for shifting the games from Pakistan in December also.

"We spoke to the ITF last December when the draw came out and they said they would not review the situation until both Pakistan and New Zealand got through the first round. As of today we have e-mailed the ITF asking about the process and what we need to do to have it reviewed," The News quoted Hall, as saying.

Hall said the ITF had moved the first round match between Pakistan and Hong Kong to Hong Kong because it was "too dangerous".

He, however, added that the federation might be less inclined to switch venues for a semi-final match. (ANI)