Pakistan’s participation in the Junior World Cup is in doubt as the Indian High Commission in Islamabad has not issued visas to Pakistan junior hockey team players to ensure that they miss out the mega event.
The event is scheduled to take place in Lucknow from December 8-18.
“So far we don’t have any information as what they are going to do. But their attitude indicates that there is design behind the delay. They want to oust us from the event,” Secretary Pakistan Hockey Federation Shahbaz Ahmed Senior told APP on Monday.
“We’d submitted our team officials and players’ passports to Indian High Commission on October 24. But so far we’ve not got any response from it.
“We’ve also sought FIH’s help into the matter. Today we’ve again emailed them (FIH). Situation will become clear in a day or so,” he added.
Shahbaz admitted that if Pakistan is denied participation in the event then it would be a serious setback to Pakistan hockey. “Our boys have been training hard for the event. They are in good shape and looking eager to perform. It’ll be unfortunate if they are not featuring in the event,” he said.
The former captain of national hockey team stated that a World Cup without Pakistan’s juniors would also be not good for international hockey adding that if India wanted then visas could be issued in just two days.
Meanwhile, despite no response from Indian High Commission the training camp of junior hockey team is in progress in Lahore under the supervision of head coach Tahir Zaman.
Tahir said that training of the players would continue till their departure to India, and they would get some relaxation from December 1. “We’ll save them from fatigue so that they may perform at their best,” he said.
Pakistan took part in the FIH Men’s World Cup, Commonwealth Games, South Asian Federation Games and the Champions Trophy in India since 2010. (APP)
