Pak team gets Indian visas; set to retain Asian title in Chennai

ISLAMABAD: The Indian authorities have issued visas to Pakistan juniors, who can expect a cakewalk in the 21st Asian Junior Squash Championship to be played in Chennai (India) from February 8-12.

The visas were awarded for particular event dates to the Pakistan juniors who are expected to leave in the wee hours Tuesday to reach in time for the Team Championship.

“India has issued visas to the Pakistan team where they can only enter the country on February 7 and can leave no later than February 12,” said team coach Faheem Gul.

All three top Pakistan players led by Hamza Khan have been playing the junior circuit for years now and were the only Asian players making it to the quarter-finals of the World and British Juniors.

“We should not have any real issue in winning the Asian Junior Team Championship title which we have been winning for years. There are no other players of the calibre we are carrying with us. Our juniors are quite experienced,” Fahim said.

'The News' has learned that Hamza Khan was awarded a wild card for the USD70,000 Pittsburgh Open starting on February 8 in the USA.

“I had made special arrangements and succeeded in getting a wild card for Hamza who desperately needs international exposure to grow as a professional player. Pakistan could easily have won junior Asian without Hamza as the standard there is not so high. What he requires is international exposure in the professional circuit which matters. I have used my resources/connections to get a wild card for him for such a big event. But unfortunately, he has not been allowed to compete in the $ 70,000 Grade I event,” former international Shahid Zaman has recently told 'The News'.

Team for Asian Juniors: Hamza Khan, Noor Zaman, Ashab Irfan and Anas Bokhari. Faheem Gul (head coach), Adnan Asad (manager).