China has denied visas to three athletes from Indian
State of Arunachal Pradesh who were set to represent Bharat at the ongoing
Asian Games in neighbouring country’s Hanzhou.
The troika, part of 11-member WUSHU contingent, were
forced to stay put in New Delhi while the remaining athletes on the list
boarded their flight to Hangzhou.
The three athletes, who did not receive their
travelling credentials, are Nyeman Wangsu, Onilu Tega and Mepung Lamgu.
The contingent was booked to fly to Hangzhou through
Hong Kong, but reports revealed that they couldn’t receive clearance to travel
beyond Hong Kong.
The troika have reached out to former Sports Minister
and current Earth Sciences Minister Kiren Rijiju, who also hails from Arunachal
Pradesh, to find a quick resolution to the situation.
The WUSHU event at the Asian Games is scheduled to
take place from September 24 to 28.
Wangsu, Tega and Lamgu were also handed ‘stapled
visas’ for their participation at the World University Games in Chengdu back in
July, which was followed up by the 12-member unit that was supposed to fly to
China for the event was called off from attending the event.
“Their clearances have not arrived to enter China.
We, at the federation, were unable to download their accreditation cards for
the Games while the remaining members of the team could download theirs without
any issues,” a source said.
“The accreditation card acts as your visa so we
decided to leave without them, hoping that they could join the team before the
competition begins,” the source continued.
“Our chef-de-mission, Bhupendra Singh Bajwa, has
already taken up the matter with the Asian Games organising committee while the
Indian Government has also been apprised of the matter. Bajwa has reached the
Athletes’ Village in Hangzhou and will be discussing the matter with the
organisers- the Olympic Council of Asia,” the source added.
“In fact, Bajwa and the Indian Olympic Association’s
joint secretary and acting CEO Kalyan Chaubey had met the Chinese ambassador in
Delhi some time ago to discuss the difficulty faced by some of the athletes in
securing accreditation.
Agencies
