MANILA, Philippines—Nothing beats hard work.

Basically, this is what non-playing Philippine team skipper Manny Tecson said would take the Filipinos past Uzbekistan in their Davis Cup Asia-Oceania Zone 1 tie that starts Friday at the Philippine Columbian Association shell courts in Paco, Manila.

“We will come into the tie banking on our confidence that we prepared good and hard for this,” Tecson told the Philippine Daily Inquirer (parent company of INQUIRER.net). “We would rather focus on all the hard work that we have put in rather than think of any advantages we might have.”

Tecson, who put together the team led by Felix Barrientos and Roland So that made the World Group qualifying in 1991, said the PCA shell courts, one of the very few in the world, is just a “bonus factor.”

“The Uzbeks are also pros, and they know how to play the game at this level,” he said. “It (winning) will all boil down to how well you prepare.”

Tecson also talked proudly of how the Filipinos have come to play as a team in his three weeks on the skipper’s role. He also hinted that Patrick John Tierro and Johnny Arcilla, who used to warm the bench for the Philippines in its recent ties, would be tapped to see early action.

The Filipinos will be locking horns with an Uzbekistan crew led by Denis Istomin, a 6-foot-1 campaigner on the ATP Tour and current world No. 156 who has played Roger Federer and Lleyton Hewitt.

Istomin and teammates Sarvar Ikramov, Murav Inovatov, Farrukh Dustov and Vaja Uzakov arrived last week to get themselves acclimatized to Manila’s hot weather.

“We are approaching this (tie) as a team, not just with two players,” said Tecson.

The Philippines will again be bannered by the flamboyant Cecil Mamiit and fellow Fil-American standout Eric Taino.

Mamiit, gold medalist at the last two Southeast Asian Games, and Taino obviously have the inside track for Friday’s opening singles assignments.

But Tecson has elected to play his cards close to his chest.

The Philippines will be coming into the tie a 0-5 loser to Japan in a first-round pairing last February. Lopsided the scores might have been, the Filipinos pushed their more experienced Japanese to the limit in the first three matches.

Tierro was the revelation in that tie, as he subbed for an ailing Taino and almost posted a singles win.

Nomination of the players will be held on Thursday, and up until then, Tecson said, no one in the team other than himself will know who will start.