Pak wrestlers deported from Almaty, miss Asian event

KARACHI: Pakistan missed the Asian Wrestling Championships in Astana, Kazakhstan, when its wrestlers were denied ‘visa on arrival’ at the Almaty International Airport in the wee hours of Wednesday and were deported to Dubai.

Not knowing that they had landed at a wrong airport, Pakistan squad was told after it reached Almaty in the early hours of Wednesday that visa on arrival is issued at Astana. And soon afterwards the four-member squad, including three wrestlers and a coach, was deported to Dubai. In Dubai every effort was made to catch a flight to Astana but due to ‘Ok to Board’ issue that did not happen.

National grapplers were scheduled to return home from Dubai on Thursday evening after passing through a 48-hour long physical and mental agony at different airports. ‘We reached Almaty at 4 am on Wednesday. We were denied visa on arrival and we were told that it is issued only at Astana. The Asian Development director told us that they cannot do anything for us as offices were closed. And so the Almaty Airport immigration department deported us to Dubai at around 5 am,’ Pakistan wrestling team coach Ghulam Fareed told ‘The News’ from Dubai.

It was also learnt that Pakistan Wrestling Federation (PWF) had also shared travel plan of the national squad with the Asian Championships organisers and United World Wrestling (UWW) also but they also did not notice that Pakistan would be hitting the wrong airport.

Mohammad Bilal, Inayatullah and Nouman Zaka were scheduled to feature in the event which will conclude on Friday (today). Pakistani wrestlers were drafted into the event’s draws also. Pakistan squad had to fly from Almaty to Astana via Almaty International Airlines at 6:55 am on Wednesday.

‘When we were deported from Almaty to Dubai we had the next option to catch a flight from Dubai to Astana which was scheduled to take off at 9:40 pm and we were working on that,’ Fareed said. ‘But we were told by the Fly Dubai authorities that they will need ‘Ok to Board’ message or visa assurance letter from Kazakhstan government and only then we will be able to proceed. We tried to use different links to manage the things but to no avail. We were told at around 9 pm that they did not get any confirmation regarding ‘Ok to Board’ and so we could not proceed,’ Fareed said.

Meanwhile, the PWF vice-president Arshad Sattar told ‘The News’ that they could not apply for proper visas of Kazakhstan due to shortage of time. ‘There were a few days left and we could not apply for visas. We requested the organisers to send us invitation for visa on arrival and they sent that to us,’ Arshad said. ‘We reserved the seats according to that and when our squad reached Almaty the other day it was told that its entry will be made from Astana and not from Almaty. And you have to go back to Dubai and from there you will have to proceed to Astana,’ Arshad said.

‘They were requested to grant the squad visa on arrival. We also invited an emergency letter from Kazakhstan Wrestling Federation but it did not help,’ Arshad said.

The letter which Kazakhstan Wrestling Federation issued to PWF says: ‘Hereby Kazakhstan Wrestling Federation confirms that PWF will participate at the Senior Asian Wrestling Championship in Astana. According to the Migration Services Support Letter No 3623278868, dated March 30, 2023, entry point for visa on arrival is Astana International Airport. That is why they had to return from Almaty to Dubai and urgently need to fly to Astana.’

Arshad said when the squad entered the Lahore airport to fly for Kazakhstan on Tuesday it was told at the immigration that they should get a seal of ‘OK to Board’. ‘But our travel agent told them that this is Pakistan team and it should be allowed to move and assured us that he would manage the 'OK to Board',’ Arshad said.

‘We contacted United World Wrestling that it is not Pakistan’s fault and it incurred a financial loss on us and they told us that they would compensate us,’ Arshad said. The participation in the Asian Championships was extremely important. Only those nations are allowed to feature in the World Championships in the weight categories in which they feature in the Asian Championships. The World Championships, to be held in September in Serbia, is also the qualifying round for the 2024 Paris Olympics.

But Arshad said that Kazakhstan Wrestling Federation (KWF) president, who is also the president of the Asian body, has assured Pakistan that it would be allowed to field its wrestlers in the World Championship. ‘They have assured us that we will be allowed to feature in the World Championships in September. Mohammad Inam, Inayatullah and Mohammad Bilal will take part in that event,’ Arshad said.