New Delhi: The India leg of the Asian Snooker Tour has been postponed indefinitely over Pakistan players’ visa issues in the aftermath of the ghastly Pulwama terror attack.
The 10 Reds Asian Tour Snooker tournament was to be played in Bangalore in the last week of March. But now it has been indefinitely deferred by the the Asian Confederation of Billiards Sport (ACBS) as the organisers have failed to guarantee visas for the Pakistani cueists.
“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,” Billiards and Snooker Federation of India (BSFI) secretary S Subramaniam told this agency.
“Six out of 24 players are from Pakistan or are Pakistani-origin. They haven’t applied for visa but we made ACBS aware of the current situation,” Subramaniam added.
The first two legs of the Asian Snooker Tour were played in Qatar and China. India was supposed to be the last leg of the tour.
The BSFI official, however, said the local organisers of the event, the Karnataka State Billiards Association (KSBA), is planning to host another international event without Pakistani players around the same time.
Sporting activities in the country involving Pakistani players were badly affected in the aftermath the terror attack that killed more than 40 CRPF personnel, February 14.
Earlier this week, a three-member Pakistani shooting contingent was denied visas to compete in the ongoing ISSF Rifle and Pistol World Cup here, a development that irked the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
PTI