02-May-2012
The News
Waqar Hamza
KARACHI: Afghanistan has shown interest in sending its men and women basketball teams to Pakistan probably in October, as Pakistan had refused to visit them due to security reasons.
Naseem But, Honorary Secretary Pakistan Basketball Federation (PBBF), told ‘The News’ that some five to six months back they had written letters to many regional countries requesting them to either send their teams to Pakistan or invite Pakistan teams.
“But, probably due to financial reasons, none of the countries replied positively except Afghanistan,” he added.
The countries that were requested by the national federation included Saudi Arabia, India, and Malaysia.
The secretary further said that initially Afghanistan asked Pakistan to pay visit but because of security issues this did not happen.
“Now they are willing to come here, for which we have asked them to confirm the dates so that we can get No Objection Certificate (NOC) for them, which will take some two months,” said the secretary, while pointing out that the likely month of their visit will be October.
It may be noted here that the basketball team of Afghanistan is quite strong because their federation has included many US-based Afghan players in the team.
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