US denies visa to Tibetan women’s soccer team

DHARAMSHALA: The Tibetan Women’s soccer team that was invited by former English football player and manager Gordon Harold Jago to the Dallas Cup has been denied visa by the United States (US) embassy to travel to the country.

The Dallas Cup is a friendly youth tournament having soccer stars such as David Beckham and Wayne Rooney in the alumni list.

Trained by Cassie Childers, a US woman footballer from New Jersey, under the aegis of the Tibetan National Sports Association (TNSA), the team debuted in Gyalum Chemo Memorial Gold Cup in 2012, winning its first match 2-0.

Since then, the team has played in several tournaments in India as well international events such as the Discover Football 2015 held in Germany.

Meanwhile, the team has posted a video on social networking site Facebook expressing disappointment on being denied visa.

In the video, the disappointed team members are seen in their football jerseys while one of them is reading out a letter written to Harold Jago expressing gratitude for the invitation.

The 2-minute footage was posted on Childers’s facebook page on February 25.

“We were looking forward to this trip, not because it was a visit to the US but because it would have provided us an opportunity to represent our country to the world. We were really excited,” said the Tibetan woman player in the video.

“But the US embassy rejected our visa stating that we don’t have any strong reason to go there. What reason could be bigger than that we are representing our country,” she added.

Coach Childers has also expressed her disappointment over the denial of the visa saying no proper explanation was given by the embassy, despite the team members fulfilling all requirements as per the US visa guidelines. The 15-member soccer team had sought a ten-day tourist visa to visit US to attend the Dallas cup as guests.

The team has requested the authorities at the embassy to review the decision. A crowd fund sourcing platform has also been initiated to recover the visa fee to and to replenish the fundstarved team. “We have decided to keep going despite all of this. We will never give up and will arrange alternative tour, to some place where Tibetans are welcome,” coach Childers said.