British-Pakistani netball team from Maidenhead ‘heartbroken’

A young British Pakistani women’s netball team has said their dream of competing at international level has been dashed.

Members of the Maidenhead-based Cosmopolitan Roses Netball Academy are dedicated to preparing for this year’s Asian Netball Championships in Bangalore.

But visa delays from the Indian government mean the team will not be able to travel to the Indian city to compete.

Sadia Hussain, co-founder of the team, said the women were “really disappointed” not to be able to compete.

“We don’t want to lose the investment we’ve made in girls’ education,” she said.

The team said they were not told the reason for the delay in issuing visas.

The women train every week for several months and players travel from Scotland to be part of the Berkshire club.

Leah Shah, 20, said she was disappointed “considering how much effort and training we put into this.”

But they “created a sisterhood together as a team,” she added.

Her 15-year-old teammate Sumaya Safdar agreed, saying: “We’ve had a really long training camp and it’s heartbreaking to find out we’re not going.”

The team, which is self-funded and has only been playing since last year, is made up of British-Asian women aged between 15 and 23.

The Academy was created to address the under-representation of British Asian girls in netball.

So when the Cosmopolitan Roses were asked to form a new Pakistan netball team and represent the country in competition, it was a huge opportunity.

Safeya Akbar, 18, said being on Cosmopolitan Roses was the “best experience” she had ever had.

Teammate Sarina Hussain, 16, said playing for the club was a “blessing” as she was able to find people to connect with.

Halima Safdar, 16, said playing for a club like the Cosmopolitan Roses meant a lot to her because netball tends to be a “white middle class sport”.

She said growing up there was no one who looked like her who she felt could represent her in sport, and hoped her team would become role models for other South Asian or Muslim girls.

Now the team has received recognition from Netball England, winning the One Award for their work to improve diversity in the sport.

The women told the BBC they had to indicate in their applications that they were of Pakistani origin and apply with Pakistani passports, which they believe is the reason for the delay.

The BBC has contacted the Indian Bureau of Immigration and the Indian High Commission about the delay but has not yet received a response.

Due to historical issues between the two countries, the visa process if a person of Pakistani origin wants to travel to India often requires multiple checks, which can cause delays.

But they are not giving up hope: next year they hope to take part in the Asian Youth Netball Championships in South Korea.

Halima said she would be “very happy if she could finally represent Pakistan.”