Pakistan volleyballers stranded in Thailand

KARACHI: Pakistan’s two top volleyball players, Aimal Khan and Mohammad Waseem, are stranded in Thailand because of unavailability of flights amid COVID-19 pandemic.

They had been playing in Thailand Volleyball League for different clubs. Aimal, who captains Pakistan, is in Nakhon Ratchasima (Korat), which is 200 kilometres from Bangkok. He plays for Nakhon Ratchasima Mall Volleyball Club. Waseem stays in Bangkok and is associated with Air Force, a club of the Thailand Volleyball League.

Aimal on Wednesday got some treatment for his throat infection. “Everything here has been closed for the last 25 days because of the coronavirus issue. I am staying at a hotel. I contacted Pakistan embassy in Thailand for a flight. I heard that the other day a flight left for Pakistan but I don’t know why I was not informed by the embassy,” Aimal told ‘The News’ from Korat.

Aimal was the top scorer of Asia in the last year’s Asian Championship in Iran. The seventh place finish in that event enabled Pakistan to play Olympic qualifiers. However, due to financial issues the Green-shirts could not feature in that event, held last January in China.

Pakistan Volleyball Federation (PVF) chairman Chaudhry Yaqoob on Wednesday told ‘The News’ that the federation was going to contact Pakistan’s embassy in Thailand. “I asked Aimal why they did not return through a flight which came recently. He told me that they had informed Pakistan embassy but it is not known why it did not inform them. I will contact Pakistan embassy tomorrow and hopefully something will be done,” Yaqoob said.