CHENNAI: After Pakistan table tennis athletes pulled out of Commonwealth Championships in July, it’s the turn of their swimmers to not come to India.
For the upcoming AASF Asian Age Group championships, there will be zero representation from Pakistan. Even though Swimming Federation of India has extended the last date for entries from August 20 to 27, it’s learnt that entries from across the border may not be forthcoming.
“There has neither been a denial nor a confirmation from Pakistan Swimming Federation,” a top SFI official told this daily.
Interestingly, before the developments in Jammu and Kashmir, PSF was actively speaking with SFI on a day-to-day basis and told the Indian body they would send athletes. “They even made an informal request to hold the deadline. All this happened before the developments in J&K. They have been silent since. We haven’t heard anything.”
This is the second time that athletes from Pakistan will be missing an Olympic qualifier in India. Earlier this year, a three-member Pakistan contingent that was scheduled to come for the shooting World Cup in New Delhi was denied visas in the immediate aftermath of the Pulwama terror attack.
After their visas were denied, International Olympic Council stripped the event of quota spots as it went against the Olympic Charter. And the IOC were quite critical of India for not granting visas due to political unrest.
But the swimming event will go ahead without any IOC interference because the decision to not send athletes to an Olympic qualifier event was made by Pakistan. Attempts to contact PSF went in vain.