November 23, 2002	Saturday	Ramazan 17, 1423

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ISLAMABAD, Nov 22: With just days to go for the World Open, the Pakistan squash players are facing great difficulties in obtaining visas for Belgium which is to host the elite tournament.

The embassy of Belgium in Islamabad has yet to issues visas to five players although applications had been submitted about one and a half month ago through the Pakistan Squash Federation (PSF).

Four of the players - Mansoor Zaman world ranked 21, Shahid Zaman No 28, Ijaz Azmat and Farrukh Zaman are to compete in the main round of the $160,000 World Open that is due to start from Dec 4. The fifth player, Shamsul Islam is to appear in the qualifiers.

Pakistan squash secretary Sajid Waheed told Dawn that each time they attempt to follow up the cases of the players, they are told that there has been no response so far from their ministry of interior.

“It is frustrating for the players because they have yet to get their airline tickets which are subject to availability of visas,” he said.

The players it is understood were planning to leave well before the start of the tournament in order to get used to the conditions there. “With this being the state of affairs, the boys face the prospect of losing valuable points which means their international ranking would be severely affected.”

Sajid called upon the ministry of sports to look into this matter and save the careers of the players because this is not the first time such a thing has happened. Only last March the Pakistani players were denied an opportunity of attending the US Open for similar reasons.

Meanwhile, the head of the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB), Brig Saulat Abbas said his organisation would involve the sports ministry to have the matter settled at the earliest. “Although the PSF has not informed us about this, still I’ll speak to the squash secretary tomorrow and then take appropriate measures.”

He said that the World Squash Federation (WSF) should also take note of this, especially now that it is being headed by Pakistan’s Jahangir Khan.

Jahangir, however sounded somewhat reluctant to take action when contacted by Dawn. “We cannot interfere with policy matters of a country, the least we can do is send them a letter requesting them to issue visas.”

He agreed that it was not fair when the players were prevented from taking part in a tournament on such grounds. “The players in question are professionals and have been playing around a lot, it is not the first time they intend going abroad.”

Jahangir said that the issue of players facing visa problems came up for discussion at the Annual General Meeting of the WSF in Kuala Lumpur last month. “But then again each country has its own visa policy, and after September 11 things have become much more complicated.”

Jahangir, elected the president of the WSF only last month, however did say that he would be speaking to his secretary on this and decide on a course of action. “The PSF has not contacted me and I have to see if this matter is to be taken up by the PSA (Professional Squash Association) or the WSF.”