After days of uncertainty, the Pakistan football team have finally been granted Indian visas which will allow them to travel to Bangalore for the 2023 SAFF Championship. While this is definitely good news, the team will be hurt by the fact that they will land in the capital of Karnataka just hours before the opening match against India on Wednesday, June 21.
The side were supposed to leave for India on June 18 after participating in a Four Nations tournament in Mauritius. However, there were delays in administrative processes, first with the issuance of the No-Objection Certificate from the Pakistan Sports Board and then the visas from the Indian government, which saw them missing their flight on Sunday.
Pakistan issues resolved
On Monday night, the Indian Embassy cleared all the pending applications, paving the way for the smooth travel of the Pakistan squad to India for the tournament.
Speaking to ESPN, Pakistan's team manager confirmed that the team will first fly from Mauritius to Mumbai, and then fly once again to Bengaluru.
"We plan to travel tomorrow. We're looking for a morning flight, which would be ideal. However, if we take an evening flight then we will reach Mumbai at around 1 am on the morning of June 21. Since there are no flights that early in the morning, we might have to wait until 5 am to take a flight to Bengaluru. We would essentially land in Bengaluru around 8 am," Haider told ESPN.
If they do take the late-night flight, the team will have less than 12 hours to prepare mentally and physically after their 14-plus-hour journey. They face India on Wednesday at 7:30 pm IST.
"The team trained this morning and is ready to leave for India. We've had our bags packed for the last two days. We might train tomorrow morning if we have an evening flight," added Haider. That would be their last training session before their match-up against hosts India, who won the Intercontinental Cup on Sunday.
AIFF on top of matter
Meanwhile, PTI confirmed that the side on Tuesday as the AIFF stays on top of the matter. "The Pakistan is expected to land in the City by late evening or in the night and the match on Wednesday is set to be played on schedule at 7.30 PM IST. The AIFF is constantly monitoring the situation and we are confident that a rescheduling of the match will not happen at this stage," a Karnataka State Football Association (KSFA) official told PTI.
But in case the team is late, the decision of rescheduling the fixture lies in the hands of SAFF. "No formal request has been made to reschedule the game. Even if one is made, the decision on that will be taken by SAFF," a top source told ESPN.
The Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) had blamed the country's National Sports Board for issuing the NOC to play in India late for the imbroglio. The sports board, however, returned the favour saying the federation submitted the documents essential for the NOC at the last minute, leading to an inevitable delay.
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