Egypt forced to postpone world squash event

Decision taken in light of European teams’ withdrawal due to security concerns

KARACHI: The Pakistan Squash Federation (PSF) expressed solidarity with Egypt as the latter was forced to postpone the World Squash Federation (WSF) Men’s World Team Squash Championship after several European teams pulled out of the event over security concerns.

Over the years, Pakistan itself has suffered a dearth of sporting events as it was deemed unsafe, with only a few scattered tournaments in squash and snooker and a bilateral cricket series with Zimbabwe having taken place in the country since 2009.

“It’s disappointing that the World Championship had to be postponed,” PSF Secretary Amir Nawaz told The Express Tribune. “We understand Egypt’s pain because Pakistan has been going through the same since the past many years. Sport provides countries a chance to present a soft image even if there are few security concerns, so the cancellation of such competitions is always a blow.”

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The event was due to take place later this month in Cairo, but considerable withdrawals in the aftermath of the Paris attacks compelled the Egyptian Squash Federation (ESF) to inform the WSF of their decision to delay the tournament.

“We request this postponement with a heavy heart, as Cairo is a safe city,” said ESF President Assem Khalifa. “All arrangements for the holding of the event are in place, including full government support to ensure protection; so there is no reason for the championship not to proceed.”

He added, “However, we are mindful that some teams did not wish to attend the championship for their own reasons and we intend to end any uncertainty in a positive way by postponing the event till a later date. It pains us to do so as there is no reason for this and many teams have incurred costs, but it is something we must do to be fair to all.”



WSF President N Ramachandran responded, “It is distressing that this event in the wonderful city of Cairo is being postponed. We can only thank the Egyptian federation for stepping in to organise the event on such a short notice after the Kuwait NOC suspension by IOC required us to relocate. However, this is just unfortunate.”

The WSF Referee Conference, which was due to precede the championship, has also been postponed.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 6^th, 2015.

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