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The Pakistan Blind Cricket Council (PBCC) has claimed that India has refused visas to their blind cricket team for the T20 World Cup for Blind. The third edition of the competition is being held in India from December 6 to 17.
Pakistan was one of the seven countries supposed to take part in the T20 World Cup for Blind. They were scheduled to take on South Africa on Tuesday, December 6, in New Delhi.
It was initially reported that their arrival was delayed due to visa issues. However, an official statement by PBCC has now claimed that the Pakistan team was not granted visas for the World Cup. The PBCC statement read:
"Pakistan Blind Cricket Council, with sheer disappointment, would like to update that India has denied visas of Pakistan Blind Cricket Team to participate in T20 World Cup Cricket of the Blind to be held in India from December 5 to 17."
Expressing further disappointment at the development, PBCC claimed that Pakistan were a serious contender to win the World Cup. The statement added:
“The PBCC strongly condemned this discriminating act of India as sports should be above regional politics, and particularly the Special Persons mega sports events would be treated fairly and all teams must be given equal chances to compete the event. Our counterpart Blind Cricket Association in India pleaded with their government for Pakistan’s clearance but nothing was heard.
“This discriminating act will have serious consequences on global blind cricket as we at World Blind Cricket will take stern action against them and may not allow India to host future International events.”
According to PBCC’s official statement, the Ministry of External Affairs India denied the Pakistan team clearance based on political grounds.
T20 World Cup for Blind schedule
India beat Nepal by 274 runs in their opening encounter of the T20 World Cup for Blind in Faridabad on Tuesday. They were scheduled to take on Pakistan at the DDA Siri Fort Complex on Wednesday, December 7.
Apart from India and Nepal, Sri Lanka, Australia, Bangladesh, and South Africa are the other teams taking part in the T20 World Cup for Blind.
The semi-finals of the edition will be played on December 15 in Bengaluru, while the final will be held in the same city on December 17.
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