By IANS,
New Delhi: The Pakistan government has cleared its team’s participation in the Commonwealth Rugby Sevens tournament in New Delhi from April 2-3.
Rugby India development manager Greg Davey told IANS that he was informed by the Pakistan Rugby Union (PRU) that they have received the green signal from the Pakistan government Tuesday evening.
“The team is on its way to Delhi and they will be arriving here Thursday afternoon. I got the confirmation of their participation in the evening and it came as a big relief for both the Pakistan rugby players as well as us organisers.”
The PRU was anxious for their government clearance as the Indian government had already given the team members visas early enough for the players to arrive in Delhi well in time for them get acclimatised for the event.
There was suspense over the team getting clearance till late this afternoon, but PRU secretary Fawzi Khwaja was quoted as saying the players were well prepared to leave even a day before the start of the event.
Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Iran, Malaysia, Brunei, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan besides hosts India, will battle it out at the Commonwealth Rugby Stadium in Delhi University.
The teams have been divided into two pools and the top two teams from each group will advance into the semi finals. Pakistan play India in the opener.
The championships is essentially to test the facilities for for the Oct 3-14 Commonwealth Games rugby competition.