November 29, 2002	Friday	Ramazan 23, 1423

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ISLAMABAD, Nov 28: Qamar Zaman, vice president of the Asian Squash Federation (ASF) has called for moving next month’s World Open out of Belgium after five Pakistani players were refused visas by the host country.

In an e-mail sent to Gawain Briars, chief executive of the Professional Squash Association (PSA), Qamar said that this being the World Open, every player had a right to compete in the tournament. “It is the responsibility of the PSA to ensure that players are granted visas,” he wrote.

He urged the PSA to take serious note of this matter and allot the Open to some other country because if this is not done, other nations might do the same in future. The World Open is due to start on Dec 4.

The Pakistani squad comprising Qamar’s son Mansoor Zaman, Shahid Zaman, Farrukh Zaman, Ijaz Azmat and Shamsul Islam were refused visas by the Belgian embassy in Islamabad saying their interior ministry had not given clearance.

Although embassy officials said Wednesday they had mailed the reasons for refusal to the Pakistan Squash Federation (PSF), no such mail had been received by the federation till late Thursday evening.

Qamar pointed out that the refusal shows the organisers of the $160,000 tournament had not made any worthwhile effort to facilitate the players in obtaining visas.

Wing Commander Sajid Waheed, the PSF secretary told Dawn that he had tried to contact Jahangir Khan, the president of the World Squash Federation (WSF) in London but had been unable to get through to him.

The head of Pakistan Sports Board, Brig Saulat Abbas meanwhile said that the government of Belgium had set a wrong precedent and pointed out that the players in question were world ranked players.

“This is a decision that is bound to affect squash in the long run,” he said and added that this step had given Pakistan the right to respond in a tit-for-tat manner and make sure that Belgian players are not allowed into the country to attend tournaments here.

Pakistan regularly hosts major international championships including the Pakistan Open, the next edition of which takes place in 2003 offering a prize purse of $120,000. Another six events are also planned and the schedule of events has already been communicated to the PSA.

However the PSF did not face much of a problem in obtaining visas for its players headed for the World Junior Championship in Chennai, India next month.

The visas to all members of the team comprising Khayal Muhammad, Arshad Iqbal Burki, Majid Khan, Safeerullah Khan, Shah Nawaz, Khalid Atlas, Rehmat Khan (coach cum manager) and Ayaz Khan (assistant coach) were issued by the Indian High Commission in Islamabad Thursday. The championship opens on Dec 3.