New Delhi: The World Squash Federation imposed a one-year ban on Pakistan Squash Federation Secretary Irfan Asghar for stating that WSF President N Ramachandran played a "malicious role" in preventing his country`s players from obtaining visas for a tournament in Belgium. The WSF said Asghar brought both the sport and the Federation into "disrepute".
The WSF said that in an interview given to `The News` in Pakistan and a website on July 12 and 14, Asghar had alleged that a "delay by the WSF in sending visa letters to Pakistan was the prime reason why the Belgium Embassy in Islamabad refused to issue visas to Pakistani players, preventing them from participating in the World Junior Individual Championship (July 13 to 17, Belgium)."
Asghar had reportedly said that WSF President, N Ramachandran, had a malicious role in preventing the Pakistani players from obtaining the visas.
"The allegations were put to Irfan Asghar by the WSF Disciplinary and Appeals Committee (DAC) who denied that he had spoken to the journalist, Khalid Hussein of The News; and suggested that these comments were totally a personal statement by the journalist and, in effect, suggested he was neither reliable nor credible," the WSF said in a statement.
"Upon enquiry, the telephone log of the journalist proved that a phone call of six minutes duration on 11 July 2011 came from the mobile phone number of Irfan Asghar. The DAC reached the view that such a conversation did take place and that the comments as reported in the press were made by Irfan Asghar," it added.
The WSF said the visa applications could not be cleared because of a confusion created by the PSF itself.
PTI
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