Asian volley: Colourful opening as Pakistan arrive late

The colourful and musical opening ceremony of the 3rd Asian Volleyball Championship (central zone) stitched together by the children of the Calcutta Choir welcoming the teams absolutely floored the decent turnout at the Netaji Indoor Stadium.

The colourful and musical opening ceremony of the 3rd Asian Volleyball Championship (central zone) stitched together by the children of the Calcutta Choir welcoming the teams absolutely floored the decent turnout at the Netaji Indoor Stadium. But one of the four teams in the competition, badly wanted to get back to its hotel and get some sleep — something the 16 members of the team did not get in the last 48 hours. Pakistan arrived here early on Thursday, delayed because of visa problem, and are scheduled to play Iran in the first match on Friday.

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“When the visas did not come two days back we thought we would not get them and so we had asked our boys to go home," team manager Farooq Meyer said. "But soon afterwards we got the message from the Indian High Commission that our visas were through. We contacted everyone and reassembled. There was yet another problem. We were supposed to cross Wagah Border on foot and take a train to Delhi from Amritsar. But our visas mentioned we were travelling by bus. So we had to wait a few hours and get that sorted," he said.