Pakistan football team receives Indian visas for SAFF Cup

 Pakistan football team has received their visas for travel to India to participate in the South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) Championship.

Taking to Twitter, the Secretary General of All India Football Federation (AIFF) Shaji Prabhakaran said, "Pakistan team received their visas."

In the press statement, Pakistan Football Federation said that the visas were issued by the Indian High Commission in Mauritius where the team was present for a Four Nations Series, according to Dawn.

It added the team would depart for India's Bengaluru via an available flight.

The press release said the tournament was scheduled to begin on June 21 (Wednesday) when Pakistan would play their first match against "traditional rivals" India, Dawn reported.

India were crowned champions in the previous edition of the SAFF Championships, but will face a stiff challenge this time around with Kuwait and Lebanon, two teams outside the SAFF region, set to participate in the tournament in Bengaluru.

The team was originally set to depart for India on Sunday but failed to board the flight due to the non-issuance of visas, following which AIFF's general secretary assured that the visas would be issued on Monday (yesterday), reported Dawn.

Pakistan applied for visas after the interior ministry gave clearance for the trip on Thursday last week.