WFI confident visa issue will be resolved

NEWDELHI: The Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) on Wednesday exuded confidence that the visa issues of China and Pakistan will be resolved soon. India is hosting the Asian Championships from Feb 18-23 in New Delhi and many top continental teams want to compete here to prepare for the Tokyo Olympics.

WFI president Brijbhusan Sharan Singh said, he had met foreign minister S. Jaishankar and apprised him of the situation. “This is a mandatory tournament and we cannot stop any country from participating. I’m hopeful that there will be no problem and the Chinese and Pakistani athletes will be allowed,” he said.

“When a tournament is allotted, we have to assure (the international federation) that no country will be stopped from participating. If we do it (stop a country), it can go against us. This is the Olympic year and the Asian Olympic qualifying event is scheduled soon where our wrestlers will compete. We should not do anything which goes against us, as then we might face the risk of being banned from participating in the Olympic qualifiers or even the Olympics,” he said.

Visa applications of a fourmember Pakistan squad (excluding official) are pending with the Indian High Commission in Islamabad, while China is facing a health crisis due to the outbreak of coronavirus, and its athletes are yet to get the green signal from the Indian embassy in Beijing.

On whether any wrestler in India had expressed reservations over facing a Chinese rival over fears of contracting the coronavirus, Singh said, “No player can say they won’t face a Chinese opponent. Every Chinese wrestler has been tested by their federation and they are healthy. Besides, they will also have mandatory tests at Indian airports.”

Sports minister Kiren Rijiju said, the Indian government follows the International Olympic Committee’s Olympic Charter, hence visas cannot be denied to any country.