IBSF World Championship: India granted NOC for August event

Rest of the featuring teams have applied for their visas

KARACHI: Despite strained relations between Pakistan and India in the cricketing world regarding their bilateral series, snooker has promised to keep the communication lines open as IBSF World Championship hosts Pakistan grant NOC to their neighbouring country.

The event is scheduled to be held in Karachi from August 4 and Pakistan Billiards and Snooker Association (PBSA) President Alamgir Sheikh believes it is a good sign that India will be coming to Pakistan.

“It is a really good step and gesture that the Indian snooker team will be coming to Pakistan for the IBSF World Championships,” Sheikh told The Express Tribune.

“The relations between the two countries may not be ideal right now but these sorts of exchanges keep the good spirit going and that is the most important thing. I want to thank our security agencies for providing clearance to India and the Inter Provincial Coordination (IPC) and the Interior Ministry for helping out in this regard.”

The PBSA chief had flown to Islamabad for this purpose and he had a special mention for IPC secretary Ijaz Chaudary for facilitating in the case.

Sheikh added that the other 16 teams featuring in the competition will not require clearances as they had already applied for visas to come to Pakistan.

“I don’t think there will be issues with their visas and we expect all the other countries to come to Pakistan on schedule. For us, it was especially important to have India onboard for this competition,” he added.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 31^st, 2015.

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