Walk over given against Pak TT team as captain skipped event for sumptuous lunch

In what would go down in Pakistan’s table tennis tennis history as one of the most bizarre and humiliating of incidents, a walkover was given against Pakistan as the captain of the table tennis team, Abbas, failed to appear on time for the match against Guernsey in the World Team Table Tennis Championship in Moscow.

According to reports, Abbas arrived for the match half and hour late as he was taken for a sumptuous lunch by none other than the President of the Pakistan Table Tennis Federation (PTTF), Muhammed Riaz Ahmed, who is also accompanying the team in Moscow.

When enquired about the embarrassing incident, a top PTTF official confirmed that walk-over given against Pakistan, but said he was unaware about the reasons behind it.

“I am trying to contact officials in Moscow, but no one is available. The president of the federation is also in Moscow and he would surely look into the matter,” The Nation quoted the official, as saying.

According to sources, the lunch party, in which both the PTTF president and the captain had participated, was thrown by a man who supplies sports equipment to Pakistan and other South Asian countries.