Pakistan wrestlers will be participating in the Asian Wrestling Championships in New Delhi after they were granted visas for the event which will be held from February 18 to 23 at the KD Jadhav Indoor Stadium.
A six-member team from Pakistan will travel to New Delhi after the Indian government cleared their travel documents on Saturday. This was after the Indian Olympic Association and Sports Ministry convinced the Ministry of Home Affairs that denying visas to the Pakistani contingent could lead to strong repercussions from the International Olympic Committee in an Olympic year.
“We had officially told them [the Wrestling Federation of India] that we will not be able to participate in the event due to visa problems,” a Pakistan Wrestling Federation official was quoted as saying by Hindustan Times.
“We had asked them to give us the visa before February 15 and United World Wrestling had also said the same. But WFI was not able to manage and therefore we informed our team that we will not be going. Internally we needed some clearance for travel to India and it takes time so we wanted at least an assurance from WFI.”
On Saturday, WFI informed them that their travel has been cleared, and they should collect their passport and visas from the Indian Embassy in Islamabad.
The participation of Chinese wrestlers, however, is still doubtful as they have not been able to get visas to India. The coronavirus outbreak has seen several travel restrictions being put on people coming from China and the Indian government has also cancelled all e-visas from China.