CHENNAI: There could be numerous reasons for visa delays but this one tops it all. India's wrestling team's visa process for the U20 World Championships in Slovakia got delayed apparently because of illegal human trafficking. The tournament is slated to be held in Bratislava from August 16 to 23 and the wrestlers competing first need to travel by at least August 14 so that they are on time for the weigh-ins and other formalities. However, as reported by this newspaper on Sunday, Slovakia embassy, did not reply to requests for visa until on Monday.
The reason? It came to light that Slovakia embassy did not process the visas because of a previous instance where players went missing in the country. The Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) had requested for visa appointment on July 21. It took combined efforts from the ministry of external affairs, sports ministry, United World Wrestling (UWW) — the world governing body of the sport — and WFI to get an appointment. The wrestlers have to submit their passports on Tuesday and will have interviews at the Slovakia Embassy in New Delhi on Wednesday.
"We have been informed that a few athletes (not wrestlers) from India visited Slovakia in June and some of them went missing from the country. This cast doubt on our wrestlers as well, which is why the visa process got delayed," a WFI official said. "Now the issue is resolved and hopefully the team can fly out in batches as has been decided by the federation," the official added.
It was learnt that the federation has given a guarantee to the Slovakia Embassy saying all members of the India team will return upon completion of the event and can also visit the Embassy for head counting if needed. The India contingent comprises 45 members including 30 wrestlers (10 each in men's freestyle and Greco-Roman, and women's wrestling), nine coaches, three physiotherapists and three referees.
The Slovak Wrestling Association too confirmed that the WFI faced visa issues. "We have only received unofficial information about problems with issuing visas for athletes of other sports, but we do not have official information about who it was and what the problem was," Jan Karsnak, president Slovak Wrestling Federation, told TNIE. On being asked whether the problem is related to the Indian athletes, he said, "Allegedly yes, but it's definitely not wrestling." Karsnak, however, emphasised that he has no idea how many times such illegal immigration has happened and when it happened the last time.
The role of UWW was important as it convinced its member unit from Slovakia, which eventually ended the stalemate. Nenad Lalovic, UWW chief said the body maintains records of all its athletes and guarantees their identities. "UWW takes care of all athletes through our informatic system and we guarantee their identities. I've also heard that there are strange cases while applying for visas, but it's not our job to investigate. We take care of wrestlers solely. And our event organizers are seriously prepared. It is stipulated by contracts we sign with organizers," Lalovic said.
The Slovak federation head said sometimes they are not officially informed of the reasons for not issuing visas. "All I know is that the rules for issuing visas are the same for the entire Schengen area and are not always completely clear to all applicants from third countries. Sometimes we are not officially informed of the reasons for not issuing a visa."
This daily has sent a mail to the Slovakia Embassy in New Delhi and their reply is still awaited.
The first batch comprising Greco-Roman wrestlers along with their coaches and referees are scheduled to leave on August 14 while the women wrestlers and men's freestyle team are expected to follow in the next two batches respectively.