Table tennis squad left distraught by officials

Lack of funds forces Pakistan to abandon its participation in Asian event.

KARACHI:

Pakistan's hopes to shine at the Asian Table Tennis Championship ended prematurely when the country's table tennis federation failed to arrange the travel expenses for the six-member squad.

The squad, which was supposed to leave on Friday, included Yasir Bhatti, Saleem Abbas, Salman Zirq along with three female players, who have been training for the Asian Championship for two months.

According to the players, they received the news that the federation has failed to submit the visa fee at the Chinese consulate before being asked to hand in Rs100,000 just two days before the event if they wanted to participate.

The Pakistan Table Tennis Federation (PTTF) President Riaz Ahmed had announced last month that the federation will send its teams to the Asian championship in Macau, China and the World Team Championship in Germany in order to improve the country's international ranking.

Players unhappy with situation

Meanwhile, the players were left distraught at the late setback and blamed the federation for not doing its job properly.

"The federation doesn't really care about the sport," a member of the squad told The Express Tribune. "The officials just want the money from the government and they don't want to spend it on the sport.

"It's not fair to ask us for money just two days before the event. It's like they are manipulating the situation. At the same time, they're compromising Pakistan's ranking."

Nadeem Sajid, a PTTF coordinator, was apparently unaware of the situation and confirmed that only the president and the secretary Hafeezullah Kakar decide over these matters.

The aforementioned officials refused to comment on the matter when approached.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 19^th, 2012.