What’s the story?
The Pakistan Wrestling Federation (PWF) has claimed that the Pakistani wrestlers, who were to represent Pakistan in the upcoming Asian Wrestling Championship to be held in India, were denied visa by the Indian High Commission.
Dawn quoted Muhammad Arshad, the Secretary of PWF, saying, “45 days ago, we applied for our Indian visas. We have just found out that the Indian High Commission has rejected the visa applications of our players and officials.”
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Speaking on if they will take any actions, Arshad added, "Our federation will write a complaint to United World Wrestling and demand that India be stripped off its right to host international events unless it guarantees that visas will be issued to all participating players, including players from Pakistan."
Previously…
Last month, the Pakistan Squash Federation revealed that the body was forced to withdraw its squash contingent from participation in 19th Asian Senior Squash Championship 2017, scheduled to be held in Chennai, India between April 26 and April 30." They further claimed that the visa applications were lodged a month in advance but still, they were rejected.
In December last year, the Pakistan Hockey Federation claimed that their junior hockey team were denied the visa and could not take part in the FIH Junior World Cup which was held in Lucknow. However, the International Hockey Federation claimed that the PHF had failed to submit the required documents in time.
A couple of years back, a U-17 wrestling team from Pakistan had faced a similar ordeal as well.
The heart of the matter
This is becoming a recurring problem for Pakistani sportspersons now. It is the umpteenth time that they have been denied visa by Indian authorities to enter the country and have missed out on several international events.
The likes of Muhammad Inam Butt and Muhammad Bilal are among those who will miss out on taking part in the five-day tournament to be held in Delhi.
What’s next?
The championship will be held in Delhi from May 10, 2017, to May 14, 2017. The Pakistani wrestlers, however, will not be able to take part.
Author’s take
The recurring problems can be seriously damaging to the two countries’ already volatile relationship. For the Pakistani sportspersons, it is not at all helpful either as they would lose points that can dent their rankings in the international circuit.
