Pak squash players await Indian visas

KARACHI: Pakistan’s squash players are still awaiting visas from India to participate in the 19th Asian Individual Squash Championship to be held at Chennai, India, from April 26–30.

“We are pursuing this case and daily send our officials to Indian High Commission in this regard,” said Pakistan Squash Federation (PSF) secretary Tahir Sultan when contacted. “We had applied for the visas quite early but still visas have not been issued,” he added.

He added that they hope that the players, who are training hard, will get visas soon.

It is to be noted that Pakistan squash contingent comprising four players, a coach (Fahim Gul) and the manager (Tahir Sultan) are to go to India.

According to PSF, in order to ensure Pakistan’s representation, top two players of the country, Farhan Mehboob and Farhan Zaman, were directly selected whereas trials were conducted from March 9–12 for the selection of the other two.

Waqar Mehboob and Tayyab Aslam were also shortlisted for the championship.

PSF has already launched a training camp at Mushaf Squash Complex in order to ensure comprehensive training of players. In addition to four senior players selected for the championship through trials, a group of junior players have also joined the camp for their training with senior players. “Rigorous court training is being provided to the players,” said Tahir. “We are also paying attention to their physical fitness and stamina to get the best results,” he added.

He added that training sessions include physical training in addition to in-court training for four to five hours.  Fahim is being assisted by three coaches to ensure equal training opportunities for all players.