CHENNAI: In a big relief for Indian U23 wrestlers, the US Embassy in New Delhi accepted passports and documents of all but two of them on Thursday. All of them appeared for visa interviews. Only a day before, the Embassy refused visas to nine out of 16 wrestlers on ground of their age, which was 20 or below and employment status. It stirred a controversy as this daily reported the issue first.
The Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) then wrote to the world governing body, United World Wrestling (UWW), which in turn assured it of country's wrestlers' participation in the U23 World Championships scheduled in Las Vegas, USA from October 12 to 18. The WFI also received a mail from its US counterpart late on Wednesday night.
The second batch, which visited the Embassy on Thursday, comprised 40 members including 14 wrestlers. "Documents and passports of all players except two were accepted. They are expected to get their visas by Friday. Passports of the remaining two wrestlers were damaged. The duo was asked to submit the fresh passports following which visas will be issued to them," a WFI official told this daily.
Interestingly, most of the wrestlers, whose documents were accepted, are 20 or below and unemployed but situation was quite different this time. "We got the mail from the USA Wrestling also on Wednesday night. The body expressed regret and urged us to send the names of the wrestlers, who were refused visas. It said it will speak to the US government to facilitate visa approval of those nine wrestlers. We mailed them immediately and expect a reply late by Thursday evening because of a different time zone between the two countries," added the official.
Things need to move in right direction quickly if the Indian team still wishes to compete in the tournament as the wrestlers have only a day left for procuring visas. "Friday will be the working day after which the Embassy will remain closed for the next three days with Monday being the Columbus Day. So it's better if all the wrestlers and support staff get the visas by Friday. Any delay could make the team's participation in the tournament doubtful," said the official.
Soon after wrestlers were refused visa, the WFI on Wednesday wrote a mail to the Embassy and copied it to the UWW and USA Wrestling. "I would like to bring to your kind attention that the visa applications of the following wrestlers have been refused, reportedly on the ground that they are unemployed and are below 20 years of age. In this regard, I respectfully wish to submit that the upcoming Championship is being conducted for the U23 age group, and the participating wrestlers are between 18 and 23 years of age. Accordingly, many of these young athletes are understandably still pursuing their sporting careers and are not formally employed," said the mail.
"Today (Wednesday), 24 participants appeared at the Embassy for their visa appointments, out of which 16 were wrestlers. Unfortunately, 09 wrestlers were refused visas, reportedly due to their employment status and are below 20 years of age. We are deeply concerned about the remaining wrestlers who are scheduled to appear for their visa appointments tomorrow, as most of them are also currently unemployed and below 20 year of age," added the mail.
Ironically, this is not the first time Indian wrestlers faced visa hurdle this year. A couple of months ago, athletes from the country could not get visa appointment for the U20 World Championships to be held in Bratislava, Slovakia. Later, it was revealed that an Indian team playing different sport visited Slovakia and a few members from the squad went missing in the country. Even then, the UWW intervened following which the wrestlers got the visas in the eleventh hour.
Teams to leave in batches
First men's Greco-Roman wrestlers along with their coaches, support staff and three referees will fly out in the morning on Saturday.
Women wrestlers, their coaches and support staff will leave two days later.
Men's freestyle wrestlers will be the last to leave on October 14.
All flights will be via London.