Pak sport federations finding hard to get visas for players

KARACHI: Pakistan's sports federations are finding hard to send their players for international events as foreign embassies are refusing to issue visas to them.
Last week, the Canadian High Commission refused to give visas to the national kabbadi team for a major event and today the Pakistan Blind Council confirmed it had been refused visas for England.
"They have given no specific reasons. But the United Kingdom embassy just says that we don't meet their criteria or fulfill the requirements to be issued visas," Syed Sultan Shah, the Chairman of the council said.
Pakistan has won the last two World Cups for the blind and had planned tours to England and the West Indies to prepare for the 2010 World Cup.
Shah said the Pakistan Blind Council had applied for visas on July 8 but after much persuasion and reminders the UK embassy officials finally returned the passports without issuing the visas.
"It is very disappointing and surprising for us since our team has been to England and other parts of the world in the past to play cricket matches. So we don't know on what basis the UK embassy refused us visas this time," Shah added.
He said he would be asking the Pakistan Cricket Board to talk to the concerned embassy and also bring the matter to the notice of the Foreign Ministry.
Pakistan sports has been hit hard because of allegations that the national hockey and some other federations were involved in encouraging and using visits to Europe to allow players to slip away.
Former Olympians Mansoor Ahmed and ex national coach Naved Alam have accused the PHF officials of being involved in the slipping away of at least seven to eight people who went to Italy as part of official delegations.
The National Assembly Standing Committee on Sports has asked the Federal Investigation Agency to probe into the matter and report back to them on the allegations.
Last year the Pakistan Cricket Board had claimed that the Canadian Embassy had refused to issue visa to senior batsman Mohammad Yousuf for a Twenty20 tournament in Toronto, Canada.