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Journalism of Courage
The Pakistan rugby team has backed out of the third leg of the Asian Rugby Sevens Series,which will be held in Mumbai over the weekend. Contrasting versions explaining their withdrawal have emerged from the Indian and Pakistani officials. Pramod Khanna,president of the Indian Rugby Football Union,blamed Pakistans withdrawal on the poor financial condition of their federation and the visa hassles they faced. His Pakistani counterpart Fawzi Khawaja,on the other hand,claimed the visas were issued but they were informed by the hosts that they could not guarantee proper security during the event.
We got a message from the Pakistan team two days ago saying that they will not be coming for the tournament, Khanna said on Friday. They did not state an official reason. Maybe it was the visas or maybe the finances. But the tournament will go on as per scheduled.
When contacted by The Indian Express,Khawaja said: The visas were sanctioned. There was a bit of delay,but they were issued. We were advised by the hosts not to come because the security situation was not conducive to us travelling there.
This is not the first instance this year that a Pakistani team has been forced to opt out of an event held in Mumbai. Earlier this year,nine Pakistani players were sent back home in middle of the inaugural Hockey India League following protests . The matches involving Pakistan during the womens World Cup were shifted out of the city owing to security concerns.
The third leg of the Asian Rugby Sevens will involve 15 teams,including defending champions Hong Kong,Japan,South Korea and China apart from hosts India.
