NEW DELHI: It’s happened sooner than expected. The first repercussions of the missive sent out by the International Olympic Committee to continental and world federations to neither award nor hold sports events in India, till such time as the Union government provides written assurances that it will follow the Olympic charter.
The India leg of the Asian Snooker Tour, scheduled to be held in Bengaluru in the last week of March, has been postponed indefinitely. Reason: India’s refusal to grant visas to six Pakistani and Pakistan-origin players.
This was the third leg of the Asian Tour 10 Reds tournament, a recently-introduced format of the game, and had 24 players registered to take part. After legs in Qatar and China, the Bangalore tournament was to be the third on the Asian tour.
A senior Billiards and Snooker Federation of India (BSFI) official told Indian Express that the Asian Confederation of Billiard Sport decided to scrap the event after the organisers could not guarantee entry of the six players. A Pakistan-born Qatari player, Ahmed Saif, was among those not granted a visa.
Last week, a three-member Pakistani team was denied visas to compete in the shooting World Cup, which started in Delhi on Saturday.
“Looking at what was happening with other sporting events in India, we informed the ACBS (Asian Confederation of Billiard Sports) that visa will be an issue for Pakistani players. So, the ACBS decided to postpone the last leg of the Asian Snooker Tour indefinitely,” BSFI secretary S Subramaniam told PTI.
“It might be moved out, it has already been postponed,” a senior ACBS official told AFP of the tour event, speaking on condition of anonymity.
“The participation of every member nation is paramount and is the responsibility of the host country.”
The context of course is the Pulwama terror attack, which claimed the lives of 44 CRPF personnel, and had the imprint of the Pakistan deep state written all over it.
In the backdrop of the national outrage the heinous act generated, the government’s stance has been that if sport suffers the collateral damage of its actions, so be it.
The next big event international event on India’s sporting calendar is the Indian Open, and as far as the Badminton World Federation (BWF) is concerned, it is all systems go till such time they are OFFICIALLY told otherwise by the IOC.
The Hockey Series Finals in June and the Commonwealth Table Tennis Championship in July are some of the other tournaments in the short term that could well be impacted by the IOC’s diktat.
In the longer term, there is India’s bid for the 2022/23 Hockey World Cup along with the intention to host the 2026 Youth Olympics, the 2030 Asian Games and the 2032 Olympics have also suffered a setback following the IOC’s ruling.
International Hockey Federation CEO Thierry Weil told Indian Express that FIH would seek further clarity from the IOC before deciding on the future of tournaments scheduled to be held in India.
“We have taken good note of and totally respect the decision of the IOC taken in full compliance with the principles of the Olympic Charter,” Weil said. “We will engage with the IOC to understand and get clarity on the concrete implications of this decision. Only thereafter will we be able to provide any further comments on FIH events planned in India, or for which India is bidding.”
“The IOC noted that it was not the first time that such incidents of challenges of entry of international sports delegations have happened in India; the latest of which was the women’s boxing team from Kosovo not being able to attend the AIBA Women’s World Championships in November 2018,” IOC sports director Kit McConnell wrote in a letter to ISSF president Vladimir Lissin.
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