The Indo-Pak Snooker Series 2013, scheduled to be held in Karachi from March 7-10, has been postponed sighting security reasons.
Officials said that the Billiards and Snooker Federation of India had obtained visas for four cueists for the tour. However, the team India refused to come to Pakistan over security reasons, especially citing Sunday’s massive bomb blast in Karachi. According to Pakistan Billiard and Snooker Association, India’s Travel Advisory Board has suggested their player not to undertake the tour.
Pakistan Snooker and Billiards Association president Alamgeer Shaikh said it was a mutual decision to postpone the clash.
“It was not possible for any country to play in Karachi after the deadly blast and we accepted India’s request to hold the series until the situation gets better in the city,” Shaikh told AFP.
The neighbours have not played a snooker series since 2005, when India visited. All sporting ties were frozen after the deadly attacks on Mumbai in 2008, which were blamed on Pakistan-based militants.
Cricketing ties were revived after a gap of five years when Pakistan toured India in December-January for a short limited-overs series.
Despite the interruption, Shaikh praised India for agreeing to the series.
“India had shown a great gesture to agree on the series and four of their players were due to arrive on Wednesday, but it’s disappointing that the situation forced us to put the series on hold,” said Shaikh.
Snooker and billiards are fast-growing sports in the sub-continent, and Pakistan’s Mohammad Asif won the world amateur snooker title last year.