A new thaw as Indo-Pak sporting ties warm

By Zeenia Kamil

Greater Noida, March 17 (SocialNews.XYZ) Will last month's ceasefire along the Line of Control (LoC) lead to a new thaw between India and Pakistan, extending towards re-establishing sporting relations between the two countries? An initial glimpse of this thaw is already visible, as a Pakistani equestrian team is competing in the World Cup qualifiers here.

A Pakistani skeet shooter is also scheduled to land in New Delhi on Thursday to compete at the shooting World Cup starting in the national capital. Then, when India will host the ICC T20 cricket World Cup in October-November, Pakistan would most probably also visit India after several years.

Although there is no official word from India on issuing visas to Pakistani cricketers for the T20 World Cup, it is too early to expect the Indian government to make its stand clear. The last time a Pakistani team visited India for a bilateral series was over eight years ago, in 2012-13, though Pakistan also toured India in 2016 for a multi-nation competition - the 2016 ICC T20 World Cup.

No country can afford to deny visas for ICC tournaments like the ODI World Cup and T20 World Cup, as that would not only ensure a walkover (and full match points) to their opponents, but it also could also lead to a stiff monetary fine for the country that denies visas to visiting teams, as per the ICC rules.

Just about two years ago, around the time of the Pulwama terror attack in early 2019, sporting ties between the two countries also went cold, so much so that India declined visas to two Pakistani shooters who were to compete at the New Delhi World Cup, which started just a few days after the attack in Kashmir.

The New Delhi World Cup was staged from February 20-28, after the Pulwama terror attack on February 14, 2019.

The two Pakistani pistol shooters had wanted to compete in the men's 25 metres rapid fire event.

Following the denial of visas, Pakistan complained to the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the apex global sports organisation, that withdrew from the New Delhi World Cup the qualification status for the 2020 Olympic Games in that event (25 m rapid fire).

The Tokyo Olympics was later postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and are scheduled to start on July 23.

"This happened in the interest of the other 500 athletes from 61 countries participating in the other events who are already in India for their competition," the IOC had said in a statement at the time, after a decision to withdraw the qualification status from the New Delhi World Cup was taken at its executive board meeting in Lausanne.

Pakistan had applied for visas for the two shooters -- G.M. Bashir and Khalil Ahmed -- in the rapid fire category, as 16 quota places for the 2020 Olympics were on offer at the New Delhi World Cup.

After the withdrawal of the Olympic quotas from the New Delhi World Cup, and the IOC threatening to impose sanctions against India if its government didn't grant visas to athletes from all competing countries, India relented and altered its stance.

The grant of visas to Pakistani skeet shooter Usman Chand for the Shooting World Cup in New Delhi and the Pakistani equestrian team could be part of the latest thaw, emanating from last month's ceasefire along the LoC by both countries.

Members of the Pakistani equestrian team have won a few medals here in Greater Noida on the first two days, and are feeling at home off the field.

Amer Munawar, general secretary of the Equestrian Federation of Pakistan, who is accompanying the team to India, has visited this country several times. "It's my fifth visit to India, but for my team and the players, it is their first time playing and visiting India," Munawar told IANS in an interview.

Munawar pointed out that whenever Indian and Pakistani athletes come face to face, competition becomes intense and they feel the pressure to perform.

"Well, of course, whenever India and Pakistan come head to head, together, the pressure is always there. But the kind of hospitality that you (India) are giving us, it feels like home, so it minimises the pressure," he said.

Interestingly, it was apparently not easy for the Pakistani equestrian team to get visas for the World Cup qualifiers. "The visas were very difficult to get. At one time, we were thinking, 'let's not go there' because there was some delay. We cancelled our flights because of the delay in getting the visas. But eventually, the Equestrian Federation of India did their best (to help secure the visas)," Munawar said.

Pakistan's Muhammad Imtiaz, who won gold medal in individual Lance competition here, is a first-time visitor to India, and is at home.

"Yes, this is the first time I am here. But, Masha Allah, we are enjoying it a lot. There was no difficulty, people are very nice and their hospitality is also very nice. People are very nice here and I have made many nice friends," he said.

Would he like to visit India again, if given an opportunity? "Of course, why not. The people here are great and kind. Unlike what we were warned about, the people and their hospitality is great," Imtiaz said.

Talking about on-field competition with Pakistan, Ahmad Afsar, coach and manager of the Indian team, said that India invariably gets the better of Pakistan.

"It is a nice opportunity, and we enjoy the competition, as Pakistan is also amongst the top teams. But since I have been with the Indian team, we have always had an upper hand against them. India has always overpowered Pakistan. And we are sure that we will remain at the top even now. And we are confident of qualifying for the finals," Afsar told IANS.

India-Pakistan sports ties are directly dependent on the political relations between the countries. However, there have been occasions when the stalled bilateral sporting activities have restarted dramatically.

This happened in early 2004 when then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and then Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf suddenly announced the restoration of bilateral cricket ties. As a result, India toured Pakistan that year for a bilateral series after almost 15 years, and it turned out to be a historic series - both on and off the field.

Source: IANS