What’s the story?
Six athletes from Pakistan will be a part of the contingent that will participate in the Asian Athletics Championships scheduled to be held in Bhubaneshwar. CK Valson, Secretary of the Athletics Federation of India, stated that the Pakistani players are expected to arrive in the next two or three days.
Valson said, “I can confirm that the Pakistani athletes have got the visas. It was a relief for us, we wanted them to take part in the championships.”
In case you didn’t know
The Asian Athletic Championships will be held from July 6-9 at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneshwar. Over 800 athletes from 45 nations will be participating, making the event the biggest in its history.
This will be the third time India will be hosting this event, having held it earlier in Delhi in 1989 and Pune in 2013.
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The heart of the matter
Six athletes from Pakistan along with two coaches were granted visas by the Indian authorities. They are Arshad Nadeem, Waqar Younis, Mazhar, Asad Iqbal, Nokar Hussain and Mehboob Ali. The accompanying officials are Syed Fayyaz Hussain and Mohammad Bilal.
Tensions have been escalating between the two neighbours, as a result of which many Pakistani athletes have been unable to take part in events in India. In a recent match at the Hockey World League Semifinals, the Indian hockey team even wore black armbands to protest against the activities of the Pakistan Army in their 7-1 win over their arch rivals.
The Pakistan hockey team were not granted visas to participate in the Junior Hockey World Cup last year, which was held in Lucknow. Similarly, Pakistani athletes were not able to take part in the Asian Wrestling Championships in Delhi and Asian Snooker Championships in Chennai earlier this year.
At the Pro Kabaddi League Season 5 auctions, Pakistani players went under the hammer but were not bought by any of the 12 sides as there was uncertainty regarding whether they will be issued visas or not. The Indian cricket team has also not played a bilateral series with Pakistan in a quite a while now.
What’s next?
India will field a strong contingent consisting of 95 members, who will look to win as many medals as possible.
Author’s take
It is a good decision to allow Pakistani athletes to compete and their inclusion will only make the competition better.
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