November 24, 2002	Sunday	Ramazan 18, 1423

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ISLAMABAD, Nov 23: Jahangir Khan, president of the World Squash Federation (WSF) has stepped in to help five Pakistani players compete in next month’s World Open, a tournament the quintet is in danger of missing because the Belgian embassy in Islamabad has yet to grant them visas.

Elected only last month as the WSF chief, Jahangir has approached the Professional Squash Association (PSA) and asked them to contact the tournament organisers on this matter.

The players - Mansoor Zaman, Shahid Zaman, Farrukh Zaman and Ijaz Azmat are to feature in the main round of the $160,000 tournament that opens on December 4. Shamsul Islam, the fifth player is to appear in the qualifying round of the elite event.

All five had applied for visas through the Pakistan Squash Federation (PSF) more than one and a half month ago but the response from the Belgian embassy has not been encouraging.

Jahangir is said to have spoken to the Tournament Director of PSA and instructed her to apprise the event organisers of the seriousness of the matter.

The organisers reportedly sent a letter to their embassy in Islamabad informing them about the plans of the Pakistani players of attending the tournament but that has clearly not worked.

Jahangir now wants that the organisers dispatch a letter from their interior ministry to the embassy here so that the players get the visas.

Only on Friday Jahangir had said that the WSF could not interfere with a country’s visa policy while adding that not granting visas was being unfair to the players.

The PSF officials were keeping their fingers crossed and waiting for the weekend to pass by so that they could know of new developments, if any, on Monday morning.

Meanwhile, the PSF has submitted with the Foreign Office, cases of players who would be taking part in next month’s World Junior Championship in the Indian city of Chennai.

Squash secretary Wing Commander Sajid Waheed said that the applications for visas had to be routed through the Foreign Office. Six players and two officials will be going for the championship.