Asian Games: Three Arunachal Pradesh Wushu Athletes Denied Visas for Hangzhou

Three of the 11-member Wushu contingent that was set to represent India at the ongoing Asian Games in China were forced to stay put in the national capital of New Delhi while the remaining athletes on the list boarded their flight to Hangzhou.

All three athletes who did not receive their travelling credentials, Nyeman Wangsu, Onilu Tega and Mepung Lamgu, belong to the state of Arunachal Pradesh.

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 AP, to find a quick resolution to the situation.

The wushu event at the Asian Games is scheduled to take place from the 24th of September to the 28th of the same month.

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.