Pakistanis miss visa deadline
By Sam Stevens, Bermuda Royal Gazette

A bizarre lack of urgency from two top Pakistani squash players has cost them their highly-coveted places in the Virtual Spectator Bermuda Masters.

World number 26 Mansoor Zaman and world number 18 Shahid Zaman are currently at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne and were told last week by the British consulate Down Under that it would take six weeks for them to secure a visa to Bermuda.

Conscious that the Masters begins as soon as a week on Sunday, tournament director Ross Triffitt contacted the Chief Immigration Officer Martin Brewer, who reportedly assured him that the visas could be obtained within a much shorter timeframe provided he had their passport details.

But despite repeated attempts by Triffitt and the Professional Squash Association to contact them, no response was received by the final deadline this past Wednesday at noon UK time.

“We were faced with a dilemma when we discovered that both players had failed to apply for their visas in a timely fashion,” said Triffitt yesterday.
“This is despite the BSRA and Immigration extending them every possible courtesy. We did all that we could to get them here but for some reason we never heard back from them.”

Their replacements, meanwhile, will be world number 36 Mark Chaloner of England and the young Egyptian Hisham Mohd Ashour.

Australian Stewart Boswell – who was once as high as number four in the world before enduring a two-year hiatus recovering from a debilitating back injury – moves up to 15th seed while Alex Gough of Wales, who beat Bermuda’s James Stout in the Commonwealth singles, becomes seed number 16.

These latest withdrawals come hard on the heels of news that world number one and defending Masters champion Jonathon Power of Canada had retired from professional squash and would not be returning to the Island this year.

“We’re disappointed obviously but we have been able to draft in the next two available players on the rankings list and make the necessary adjustments to the draw,” Triffitt added.

“We’re all gearing up for what should be a fascinating and highly competitive tournament.”