Denial of visas forces Indian archers to pull out of Paralympic qualifiers
Express News Service
NEW DELHI: Denial of visas has become a recurrent theme for Indian athletes seeking training or competitions abroad ever since the second wave of the Covid-19 struck. India’s para-archers became the latest bunch to suffer that fate after the Czech Republic refused to issue visas to a six-member team and five officials. The squad were headed to Nove Mesto for the Para-Archery World Ranking Tournament And Final Paralympic Qualification event from July 3-10.
The event was set to be the final chance for two Indian para-archers — Adil Mohamed Nazir Ansari (men W1) and Jyoti Baliyan (compound open) — to qualify for the Paralympics.
Initially, the Archery Association of India (AAI) spoke to the Local Organising Committee (LOC) about the reduction in quarantine rules citing all archers having already received both doses of the Covishield vaccine. However, the LOC through World Archery informed that the Czech government had put India and Brazil on their red list, which meant visas would not be issued.
“We went to the sports ministry who tried through the External Affairs ministry but to no avail. We were ultimately forced to withdraw the team,” a senior official informed TNIE.
The Sports Authority of India requested the Ministry of External Affairs’ intervention in securing special permission from the Czech Republic’s National Sports Agency and the Ministries of Health and Foreign Affairs but it did not work.
