KARACHI: Pakistan hockey team’s tour of Europe that is scheduled to begin from later this week could be in jeopardy because of visa hurdles.
Arab News learned here on Sunday that the national hockey authorities are still awaiting visas for the Europe-bound squad from the French Embassy in Islamabad and are considering to alter the dates of the tour if there is any delay in the issuance of the visas.
Pakistan are scheduled to play eight Tests during the 15-day European sojourn that will take them to France, Poland and Belgium from Sept. 25 to October 9. It is an important training tour for Pakistan, who are eyeing a title-winning triumph in one of the 2010 World Cup Qualifiers to be played in Lille, France.
Pakistan are top seeds in the Lille Qualifiers which will get underway from Oct. 31. Pakistan, record four-time world champions, have to win the qualifying round to make the cut for next year’s World Cup to be played in New Delhi Feb. 28 to March 13.
Pakistan chose a 17-man team for the tour of Europe earlier this month but are now planning to just 16 men after axing forward Tariq Aziz over doping suspicions.
National team officials are desperate for the eight Tests lined up in Europe by the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) as they want to fine tune the preparations for the World Cup Qualifiers by playing against France, Poland and Belgium just before the qualifying tournament. Two of those teams — hosts France and Poland — will also be competing in the Lille Qualifiers that will also feature Japan, Russia and Italy.
“It is very, very important for our team to play the warm-up matches in Europe before taking part in the Qualifiers,” Shahid Ali Khan, Pakistan’s coach told this correspondent. “I hope that the tour will not be affected because of any visa delays,” he added.
There is a possibility that the Pakistani players and officials might receive their visas immediately after the Eid break which will mean that they will be able to take the flight for Paris on September 24 or 25. But if the visas are still not ready, then the PHF will have to reschedule the tour through mutual consent of the hockey associations in France, Poland and Belgium. According to the current schedule, Pakistan are to play three Tests in Lille against France on Sept. 26, 28 and 30 followed by five more matches in Poland and Belgium. If there are problems in rescheduling the matches, then Pakistan will have to give up plans of touring Europe. The PHF will have to then send the team to France at least 10 to 12 days before the start of the World Cup Qualifiers in Lille so that it can play a few practice games there ahead of the tournament.
Shahid said that his team will need several practice matches before the start of the qualifying rounds. “The boys have been training hard but would need several warm-up games to be ready for the qualifying rounds,” he said.
