LAHORE, March 3: The departure of a 39-member Pakistan athletics contingent to India for participation in the SAFF Championship has been delayed by one day due to late clearance of the visas from the Indian authorities.

The championship is being organized by the Athletics Federation of India from March 7-9.

“We were to leave for India via the Wagah border on Tuesday but as the clearance for the issuance of the visa was received late at the Indian High Commission in Islamabad, the visas are likely to be issued tomorrow and the contingent will finally leave on Wednesday,” secretary Athletics Federation of Pakistan, Khalid Mahmood told Dawn on Monday.

“We will be in Cochin by 11am on March 6, exactly one day before the start of the event,” the secretary said.

Pakistan will be competing in men and women 100m, 200m, 400m, 800m, 1500m, 10000m, 110MH, 400 MH, 4x100relay, 4x400relay, long jump, triple jump, high jump, pole vault, shot put, discus throw, javelin throw, hammer throw.

Khalid Mehmood, Honrary Secretary, Athletics Federation of Pakistan, will be the chef-de-Mission while Mohammad Akhtar Nawaz Ganjera, Deputy Director General (Tech), Pakistan Sports Board (PSB), will lead the team. As many as eleven officials will accompany the team which include the manager, associate manager, coach and technical officials.

The squad comprises Mohammad Imran, Afzal Baig, Liaqat Ali, Haq Nawaz, Mohammad Ehsan, Mohammad Javed, Ali Mohammad, Farhan Ahmed, Ansar Shahzad, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Niaz, Mohammad Sajjad, Mohsin Ali, Bilal Ali, Mohammad Anwar, Adnan Anjum, Mohammad Jaffar, Fayyaz Ahmad, Mohammad Riaz, Zafar Iqbal, Ashraf Ali, Raza Abbas, Basharat Ali, Ghulam Shabbir, Mohammad Imran and Mohammad Arfan Hussain, Nadia Nazir, Nosheen Parveen, Sadaf Siddique, Javeria Hasan, Sumaira Zahoor, Rozina Shafqat, Bushra Parveen, Shagufta Noreen, Maryam Babar, Zeenat Parveen, Abida Jamil, Parveen Akhtar and Fozia Aurangzeb.

Our reporter from Islamabad adds: The championship is organized by the Athletics Federation of India at the state of Kerala (Cochin).

Talking to Dawn, the coach of the athletics team Rana Nasrullah, hoped their team would win some medals in the event.

He said that the current tour to India would provide good exposure to the athletes. “We have some good athletes like Mohammad Sajjad in 110 metre hurdles, Haq Nawaz in 400 metre hurdles, Mohammad Irfan and Mohammad Imran in javelin throw.