Asian Snooker Tour postponed indefinitely due to Pakistan players’ visa issue
After the Billiards and Snooker Federation of India failed to solve the visa issue of Pakistan players, the Asian Confederation of Billiards Sport had to postpone the tournament indefinitely. Following the Pulwama attacks, sporting activities involving Pakistan players have been massively affected.
After the first two legs of the Asian Snooker Tour took place in Qatar and China, the third and the last leg of the tour was supposed to be in India. And it was scheduled to be held in Bengaluru in the last week of March. However, after the BSFI informed the ACBS that they couldn’t provide any guarantee about the visas of the participating Pakistan cueists in the 10 Reds Asian Tour Snooker tournament, the Asian body didn’t have any option but to postpone it for the time being.
“Looking at what was happening with other sporting events in India, we informed the ACBS that visa will be an issue for Pakistani players. So, the ACBS decided to postpone the last leg of the Asian Snooker Tour indefinitely,” said BSFI secretary S Subramaniam, reported PTI.
“Six out of 24 players are from Pakistan or are Pakistani-origin. They haven’t applied for
However, the BSFI has informed that the local organizer of the event, Karnataka State Billiards Association (KSBA), has been planning to organize another international event, which will be without Pakistan players and around the same time.Â
“The KSBA is exploring another international event as they have already approved the budget for the Asian Tour from the state government,” said Subramaniam.
Since the Pulwama tragedy, which saw over 40 CRPF personnel dying in a terror attack on February 14, Indian sports have taken a huge hit. Earlier this week, a three-member Pakistani shooting contingent didn’t get visas to compete in the ISSF Rifle and Pistol World Cup here. The development hasn’t kept Indian in the good books of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), who has given a strong warning to the national government stating that such repetition of such instances could see them losing out on hosting international events.
