Hockey: Visa issues postpone seniors’ comeback

Waseem, Abbasi, Imran will not be part of Pakistan squad in Europe.

KARACHI: The recalled trio of Waseem Ahmed, Shakeel Abbasi and Mohammad Imran will miss the training tour of Europe after being denied visas, the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) announced yesterday.

The three were recalled to the national side two days before the team’s departure for Belgium where Pakistan will also take on the Netherlands and Germany. At the time of departure, the trio were due to miss just the opening match – against Belgium – but the the refusal of visas by the Royal Netherlands Embassy ended their chance of being part of the short trip.

The PHF has now asked the three players to report at the backup training camp in Lahore which was launched under the supervision of Anjum Saeed and Danish Kaleem (coach). The PHF selected 17 players to attend the camp as part of its Olympics preparations.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 12^th, 2012.