India Still to Consider Visa Applications of Pakistan Team for Hockey World Cup

At the end of this November, India will witness a rare pageant of hosting the World Cup of a major sport in this country, which will be counted as a festival for the nation. Whereas there is a twist that India’s neighbors Pakistan are expected to attend the Hockey World Cup in Bhubaneswar are still on a verge to get visa due to their countries attitude at the border.

As per the latest report of Times of India that India is “still considering” the visa applications from the Pakistani team. For their part, Pakistan had reportedly applied for visas last month for the players and support staff”. As a Controversy is the recent past, India and Pakistan have been caught in a misconception regarding the finals of the Asian Champions Trophy in Oman. While the final was called off due to adverse weather conditions and before that both teams had mutually agreed at that decision to call off the match, whereas the coach of the Pakistan team when reached to his own country he quoted that it was India who had taken the decision to forfeit the match and pointed out the Pakistan team was very much into winning so it was a sole decision of India team. According to the report in TOI, in this upcoming Hockey World Cup has seen the International Hockey Federation (FIH) has step up to request the Indian Government to allow Pakistan so that they can participate. The Pakistani Hockey Team have last played in India in 2014 when they won the Asian Champions Trophy by beating the hosts. The winning team allegedly made obscene gestures towards the home crowd following the win which was against the moral code of conduct. As we know the Political diplomacy has always been problematic issue between the two nations since their birth. In September 2018, a dialogue between the foreign ministers of the two countries was announced and it was greeted as a welcome development in peace talks between them. However, the meeting was called off just 24 hours later due to the border issues and some other controversial statements. Like India, Pakistan has a rich history of hockey deeply ingrained in their culture. We hope things work out for the best. So that we would be able to see a competent match between the two nations and other teams as its electric and energetic scenario in the teams as well as the fans inside and outside the stadium. Whereas on a different footing, this Hockey World Cup will have total sixteen teams who qualified through various tournaments and qualifying tournaments. The host’s team ranked fifth currently qualified by virtue of them being the hosts. The tournament will begin on 28th November with the match between Belgium and Canada. We may see some records being broken.

By: Anuja Arora

Content: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/sports/hockey/hockey-world-cup/hockey-world-cup-india-still-considering-visa-for-pakistan-team/articleshow/66504992.cms