KARACHI: Pakistan's chances to feature in the South Asian and Asian Junior Table Tennis Championships in India are almost finished as the government has not yet issued NOC to the Pakistan Table Tennis Federation (PTTF).
A top official of the PTTF said on Thursday that the federation is not aware of any progress whether the government will issue NOC to the team for the twin events in Jaipur, or not.
"Absolutely no progress has been made in this regard. I don't know anything about it," the PTTF President SM Sibtain told 'The News'.
"May be we get visas today (Friday) but PIA have canceled our reservations we had made for July 18 (tomorrow)," he disclosed.
Pakistan were scheduled to take part in the South Asian Junior Table Tennis Championship penciled in for July 20 to 21 and Asian Junior Championship scheduled to be held from July 22 to 26 at the SMS Stadium in Jaipur.
However, Sibtain was reluctant to make it clear about Pakistan's tour to India saying, "If the visas are endorsed today (Friday) and we also get NOC then we'll to get seats in PIA but it looks quite difficult."
However, he made it clear that he would not take any such step to allow the team to visit India without taking an NOC from the government. Sibtain said that the PTTF had sent names of the final players to the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) on June 20 on the directives of the Board.
The official spokesman of the PSB Azam Dar told 'The News' that the case of the PTTF regarding NOC is still pending and there is the possibility that the government may issue NOC to the federation within a day or two.
"Proposal is under consideration in the ministry," Dar said in a message to this correspondent.
Interestingly, a PSB official said that NOC is just a formality and he is sure that Pakistan table tennis team will feature in the Jaipur's twin events.
Quite surprisingly, the government has issued NOC to the Pakistan Squash Federation (PSF) for fielding its team in the World Junior Championship starting in Chennai from July 29 well in advance but the case regarding table tennis team's participation in the Jaipur's events has been kept as a top secret.
Sources told 'The News' that the PSB is deliberately creating problems for the PTTF due to some differences between the top official of the federation and the Director General of the Board over the electoral matter of the Punjab Table Tennis Association. This correspondent also tried repeatedly to get opinions of the top officials of the Federal Sports Ministry and the DG PSB but they were not receiving the calls.
Squad waiting for an uncertain India trip: Under-18 boys: Salman Ahmad Virk, Waqas Ayub, Abdullah Muhammad, Under-18 girls: Maleeha Khursheed, Saba Mushtaq, Sobia Qamar, Under15 boys: Muhammad Rameez Khan, Tabish Khursheed, Under15 girls: Abeera Ali and Farva Babar.
A top official of the PTTF said on Thursday that the federation is not aware of any progress whether the government will issue NOC to the team for the twin events in Jaipur, or not.
"Absolutely no progress has been made in this regard. I don't know anything about it," the PTTF President SM Sibtain told 'The News'.
"May be we get visas today (Friday) but PIA have canceled our reservations we had made for July 18 (tomorrow)," he disclosed.
Pakistan were scheduled to take part in the South Asian Junior Table Tennis Championship penciled in for July 20 to 21 and Asian Junior Championship scheduled to be held from July 22 to 26 at the SMS Stadium in Jaipur.
However, Sibtain was reluctant to make it clear about Pakistan's tour to India saying, "If the visas are endorsed today (Friday) and we also get NOC then we'll to get seats in PIA but it looks quite difficult."
However, he made it clear that he would not take any such step to allow the team to visit India without taking an NOC from the government. Sibtain said that the PTTF had sent names of the final players to the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) on June 20 on the directives of the Board.
The official spokesman of the PSB Azam Dar told 'The News' that the case of the PTTF regarding NOC is still pending and there is the possibility that the government may issue NOC to the federation within a day or two.
"Proposal is under consideration in the ministry," Dar said in a message to this correspondent.
Interestingly, a PSB official said that NOC is just a formality and he is sure that Pakistan table tennis team will feature in the Jaipur's twin events.
Quite surprisingly, the government has issued NOC to the Pakistan Squash Federation (PSF) for fielding its team in the World Junior Championship starting in Chennai from July 29 well in advance but the case regarding table tennis team's participation in the Jaipur's events has been kept as a top secret.
Sources told 'The News' that the PSB is deliberately creating problems for the PTTF due to some differences between the top official of the federation and the Director General of the Board over the electoral matter of the Punjab Table Tennis Association. This correspondent also tried repeatedly to get opinions of the top officials of the Federal Sports Ministry and the DG PSB but they were not receiving the calls.
Squad waiting for an uncertain India trip: Under-18 boys: Salman Ahmad Virk, Waqas Ayub, Abdullah Muhammad, Under-18 girls: Maleeha Khursheed, Saba Mushtaq, Sobia Qamar, Under15 boys: Muhammad Rameez Khan, Tabish Khursheed, Under15 girls: Abeera Ali and Farva Babar.
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