CHENNAI: Amidst reports of Indian sportspersons returning home safe after getting stranded in West Asia due to the US-Israel attack on Iran, the senior India men's basketball team that travelled to Doha to play World Cup qualifier matches are still stuck.
India's women's ace shuttler PV Sindhu, who was supposed to travel to Birmingham for the All-England Championships via Dubai, was stranded for a few days before returning to Bengaluru on Tuesday. Sindhu will miss the BWF Super 1000 meet. The women wrestlers who were stuck in Tirana, Albania after the conclusion of the second Ranking Series, will return home via a different route, as their flight via Dubai was cancelled due to the restricted airspace due to the conflict.
"The India team is safe in a hotel. The airspace in Qatar is still closed. We are in constantly in touch with the Indian embassy in Doha and the external affairs ministry to help the team get back home," said Kulvinder Singh Gill, secretary general of the Basketball Federation of India (BFI). It is reported that limited commercial services have resumed in few West Asian countries, with governments trying to evacuate their citizens.
The team, although ready to take the road to the nearby airport where such operations are taking place, would only do it if the ministry allows them to do so. "That is a longer route but if the ministry instructs us to do the same, we are ready. Although they are safe and sound in Doha, they would like to get back home as soon as possible," Gill said.
The India team led by Palpreet Singh Brar reached Doha on Saturday (February 28) to play Qatar in the 2027 FIBA World Cup qualifier. Their next qualifier match against Lebanon, scheduled on March 3 was cancelled by FIBA owing to the unrest.