KARACHI: The Greek Embassy in Islamabad has rejected five visas for the Special Olympics delegation heading for the Olympic World Games in Athens, Greece, on Monday.
“Three athletes, namely, basketball players Ayaz Ahmed and Sabah Ilyas and badminton player Mohammad Asif Khan Ghauri along with Global Youth Activation Summit (GYAS) team leader Sarah Alam and the contingent’s cameraman Nofil Naqvi have been refused the visas,” Head of the Delegation Ronak Lakhani told Dawn on Friday.
“Besides, having to leave without them, we are now also facing another problem of how to send back photographs and footage of Team Pakistan’s performance at the World Games,” she added.
Asked as to what was the reason for refusing visas, she said: “They have given us no reasons while flatly refusing to do the needful.”
According to a Special Olympics of Pakistan (SOP) Media Coordinator Saima Mohsin, this is the first time ever that a visa has been rejected for the Special Olympics Pakistan team.
“The Pakistan delegation has participated in six Olympic games all over the world since 1991. In 2007 in Shanghai, China, Team Pakistan won 15 gold medals, 20 silver medals and 16 bronze medals. The SOP had high hopes for these World Games too,” she said.
“Our athletes were due to participate in eight sports: athletics, aquatics, badminton, basketball, bocce [a ballgame for low ability athletes], cycling, football and table tennis.
“While the SOP office appreciates security and immigration concerns, it is deeply disappointed by the Greek Embassy’s decision,” she concluded.
No comments:
Post a Comment