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They have no coach, no manager and were not sure of their participation in the Badminton Asia Championships till the last moment, but none of it managed to keep Umer Zeeshan from making it to the main draw of the tournament here on Tuesday.
The Pakistan shuttler overcame a fighting Hasitha Chanaka from Sri Lanka 21-16, 21-19 in the final of the men's qualification round at the Siri Fort complex . Zeeshan was joined by compatriot Wajid Ali Chaudhry, who got past Anayet Ullah Khan of Bangladesh 21-10, 21-11 in another men's singles qualification final.
The two then combined in the mens' doubles but despite their best attempts, failed to get past the pair of Yong Zhao Ashton Chen and Zitilang Derek Wong of Singapore, going down 21-15, 21-17.
While the Pakistan women failed to get past the first round of qualification on Monday, the men did better, with Rizwan Azam and Kashif Sulehri also booking a spot in the main draw, easily getting past Burhanuddin Mir Aman Khan and Mohammad Abid Mohammad Alim of Afghanistan incidentally, the only representatives from the country, also here with no coach, manager or any kind of team support 21-9, 21-6.
"Visa problem is a big issue. Both the governments should understand that we are just sportspersons and playing for our respective nations. Why there should be such a fuss for giving visas to Pakistani players in India and vice versa when other foreigners are easily given the visas," asked Wajid, the most experienced of the lot as far as visiting India is concerned.
Meanwhile, Japan's Ayane Kurihara caused a minor upset, defeating a much stronger Jingyun Xia from the badminton powerhouse China 21-17, 21-19. However, the other two Chinese women in the qualifiers managed to enter the main rounds easily. Xin Liu beat Jin Ah Wi of South Korea 21-15, 21-8, while Xuerui Li beat Phuong Nhi Phung Nguyen of Vietnam 21-13, 21-13.
Other results
Women's singles: Phuong Nhi Phung Nguyen (Viet) lost to Xuerui Li (CHn) 21-13, 21-13; Ayane Kurihara (Jpn) beat Jingyun Xia (Chn) 21-17, 21-19; Jin Ah Wi (Kor) lost to Xin Liu (Chn) 21-15, 21-8; Hae Won Kang (Kor) beat Hsiao ma Pai (Tpe) 21-17, 25-23; Women's doubles: Pooja Shreshta/Sujana Shreshtha (Nep) beat Violetta Shtyrova/Valeriya Yefremova (Tkm) 21-9, 21-13; Men's singles: Lasith Menaka Karunathilake (SL) beat Puticheat Chindet (Com) 21-13, 21-9; Maher Abood (Irq) lost to Rais Md Uddin (Ban) 21-5, 21-5; Indra Mehata (Nep) beat Annachary Nyya zgulyyev (Tkm) 21-4, 21-5; Men's doubles: Hannan Abdul/Anayet Ullah Khan (Ban) beat Sahadev Khadka/Bikash Shreshta (Nep) 21-14, 21-15
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