A netball team made up of young British Pakistani girls has said their dream of competing internationally has been crushed.

Members of the Maidenhead-based Cosmopolitan Roses Netball Academy had been busy preparing for this year’s Asian Netball Championships in Bengaluru.

But visa delays by 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” at not being able to compete.

“We would not like to lose this investment we have made in girls for their training,” he said.

The team said they had not been told why their visas were delayed.

The women have been training every week for months, with players traveling from as far away as Scotland to be part of the Berkshire club.

Leya Shah, 20, said she felt disheartened “considering how much effort and training we put into this.”

But they have “built a brotherhood together as a team,” she added.

Her 15-year-old teammate, Sumayya Safdar, agreed, saying, “We’ve had very long training camps and finding out we’re not going is heartbreaking.”

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 set up in a bid to address the under-representation of British-Asian girls in high-performance netball.

So when the Cosmopolitan Roses were asked to form a new Pakistan netball team and represent the country at a competitive level, it was a great opportunity.

Safeeyah Akbar, 18, said being part of 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.

Haleema Safdar, 16, said playing for a club like the Cosmopolitan Roses meant a lot to her because netball is typically a “white, middle-class sport”.

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

The team has now been recognized by England Netball and won the One Award for their work to improve diversity in the sport.

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

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

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

But they haven’t lost all hope: they hope to compete in the Asian Youth Netball Championships next year in South Korea.

Haleema said she would be “very excited to finally be able to represent Pakistan.”