The Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) is under pressure to expedite the process of granting visas to participating nations for the upcoming Asian Championships from February 18 to 23 here at the Indira Gandhi Sports Complex. This includes granting visas to the Chinese wrestling team, as well as to wrestlers from Pakistan.
United World Wrestling (UWW), the world governing body in wrestling, has warned the Indian federation that all participating nations need to be given visas, or else India may be penalised by being barred from the Asian Olympic qualifier scheduled in March in China. As per UWW bidding rules, it’s mandatory for hosts to ensure all participating countries get visas for a tournament. UWW has also written to the Bulgarian federation to allow Chinese athletes to participate in the World Olympic qualifiers, the last qualifying event, from April 30 to May 3 at Sofia.
Participation of Chinese athletes have become a contentious issue since the outbreak of the novel coronavirus—which has resulted in over 425 deaths, mostly in China.
The senior Asian Olympic qualifying tournament is slated to be held from March 27-29 in Xian, China, but there is a possibility of the event being shifted to another country. The WFI on Monday approached the sports and external affairs ministry to ensure visa is granted to both the Pakistan and China teams. “We have forwarded the letter of the UWW to health ministry also. It’s obligatory for the hosts to ensure all countries are given visa,” said Vinod Tomar, assistant secretary, WFI. WFI said that the 40-member Chinese contingent (officials and athletes) have not yet been granted visas. “No nation will send an injured or sick player to compete,” Tomar said.
An Indian government official familiar with the development said that there is no blanket ban on Chinese nationals travelling to India, but that visas given before the start of the outbreak and e-visas will not be valid. “Athletes or officials will have to apply for fresh visas,” the official said on condition of anonymity.
A sports ministry official said that the matter is not in their hands. “We will follow whatever is decided by health and external affairs ministry. The sports ministry has no role in it,” said Radhey Shyam Julaniya, the sports secretary.
The Indian high commission in Islamabad hasn’t cleared the application of the six-member squad including four wrestlers from Pakistan either. The Pakistan wrestling federation has written to the UWW and complained of not getting visas. “If we don’t follow the UWW protocol then our team could also face problem in future,” Tomar said.
In March last year, UWW had issued a similar warning to WFI that all participating nations should be given entry if India wants to host the junior Asian Championships. India had agreed to host the event because Lebanon withdrew at the eleventh hour.
Eventually, a four member Pakistan team got visas. In February last year, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) had urged all International Sports Federations not to grant competitions to India as two Pakistani rapid pistol shooters were denied visas for the ISSF World Cup, an Olympic qualifying event, held in New Delhi. The ban was lifted after sports minister Kiren Rijiju wrote to IOC with an assurance that visas will not be denied to the Pakistan athletes.
Other top events
Chinese athletes in other Olympic sports are also scheduled to visit India in the next couple of months. The Chinese team has confirmed its participation for the ISSF World Cup in rifle/pistol/shotgun from March 15 to 26 in New Delhi.
Rajiv Bhatia, an official of the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) said, “till date there is no issue. February 14 is the deadline to send the entry by name,” Bhatia said. The Delhi World Cup will be this season’s first global event and all nations gearing up for the Tokyo Olympics will be looking to send their top shooters.
In badminton, the prestigious India Open, from March 24-29 in New Delhi, will also feature Chinese players. The Badminton World Federation (BWF) in a statement said it continues to monitor all the official developments on the coronavirus situation.
“Since there is travel restrictions which may mean players and officials from China will not be able to participate in some of BWF sanctioned events easily.” BWF said in a statement. “Chinese athletes are free to enter events and we trust hosts will provide full assistance and treat all athletes from member associations equally.”