Lahore blast: PSA cancels nine events to be held in Pakistan

World squash governing body advised by security not to hold tournaments in country

KARACHI: The Professional Squash Association (PSA) cancelled nine international events that were scheduled to take place in Pakistan this year, but Pakistan Squash Federation (PSF) Secretary Group Captain Aamir Nawaz is still hopeful they can convince the world squash governing body to reconsider.

PSA cancelled the events after their security consultants reported that it is not safe for the foreign players to come to Pakistan; however Nawaz said that the federation will be meeting the PSA security agency in March.

“This decision came out of the blue but we’ll try to get it resolved,” Nawaz told The Express Tribune. “We held four international events with players coming in from Netherlands, United Kingdom, Austria and Belgium among other countries, so we are hoping to negotiate with the PSA again. They hired security consultants who suggested it to the PSA, we’ll meet them in March. ”

He added that after hosting international players last year in four events, the PSF asked for nine events this year. “Our season starts in August mainly. We are taking up the case with PSA. We asked for nine events from them and they said no because of the security issues.”

Nawaz said that the three major cities — Lahore, Islamabad and Karachi — are all safe for international events and one-off incidents shouldn’t change anything. “Our stance is that Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad are safe. One-off incidents happen even in Paris, so this should not be a problem. And if not, this is not the end of things,” said Nawaz.