ISLAMABAD: Participation of Pakistani squash players in the Asian Senior Individual Championship scheduled to be held in India is in jeopardy as despite making all-out efforts Pakistan Squash Federation (PSF) is yet to receive players’ visas from the Indian High Commission.

“Much as chances are very low, we are still trying to get Indian visas from their High Commission,” said PSF secretary Tahir Sultan who said as per the plan, Pakistani players were slated to leave for India on Sunday.

“Even today [Friday] we made efforts, but to no avail,” the secretary maintained while stating that there should be no bar on players in sporting events.

“Players only promote soft images of their country as they hold racquets in their hands, not guns,” the secretary added.

“We don’t want to miss the event as our players did a lot of hard work for it,” he further said, adding the PSF was ready to send the team so much as if visas were issued on Monday.

The four-member Pakistan team comprising Farhan Mehboob, Farhan Zaman, Tayyab Aslam and Waqar Mehboob is supposed to participate in the five-day championship commencing on April, 26 in Chennai.

Pakistan players have been undergoing tough training ahead of the event in question, said the secretary who disclosed that Farhan Mehboob was ready to participate in the Asian Championship having been injured in the ongoing Houston Open in the US.

Published in Dawn, April 22nd, 2017