December 4, 2002	Wednesday	Ramazan 28,1423

Please Visit our Sponsor (Ads open in separate window)

ISLAMABAD, Dec 3: Pakistan squash players Mansoor Zaman and Shahid Zaman were finally issued visas barely 24 hours before the start of the World Open in Belgium.

Mansoor, ranked No 18 in the world and his cousin Shahid, No 28 on the ladder, were both granted visas in London by the Belgian embassy after being intimated by their counterparts in Islamabad, secretary of Pakistan Squash Federation (PSF), Wing Commander Sajid Waheed said.

The embassy in London had Monday refused visas to both the players saying they had received no information from the Belgian embassy in Islamabad.

The Belgian Ambassador here, following intervention of the Pakistan Foreign Office, had assured the PSF that the entire party comprising five players would be given visas after the embassy earlier had plainly said “no” to them.

Ijaz Azmat and Farrukh Zaman are the other players competing in the World Open. They had their visas stamped Saturday. Only Shams, the fifth player could not go because of illness.

Meanwhile, Khalid Atlas was the only Pakistani to swing his racket, that too in a winning way, as individual competitions in the World Junior Squash Championship got underway at Chennai (India) Tuesday.

Khalid Atlas knocked out Shaun Sansom of New Zealand 9-1, 9-7, 6-9, 9-1 to move into the next round as five other Pakistanis all got byes, according to a report available here Tuesday.

Khayal Muhammad, Arshad Iqbal Burki, Majid Khan, Safeer Khan and Shah Nawaz will figure in the next round matches on Wednesday.