Late clearance grounds canoeists bound for Worlds
CHANDIGARH: The Sports Authority of India (SAI) spent around `20 lakh on the 41-day national camp for the kayaks and canoeists preparing for the Junior and U-23 World Championship at Montemor-o-Velho, Portugal, which begins on July 23.
A 16-member team, including two coaches, was supposed to leave on Monday, but the hard work put in at the camp has been in vain as SAI failed to give the administrative sanction for the team’s participation in time. As a result, visa formalities could not be completed and the trip has been called off.
The sanction was given on July 14, leaving little time for paperwork as the Portuguese embassy takes two-three weeks to complete visa and other formalities. It was then decided that there was little use in processing the visas.
“We were training hard for the championship for the last couple of months and just before we were about to leave we got the news that the team was not going,” said a junior national team member.
“The World Championship is a biennial event, so by the time the next meet happens most of us will cross the age. We have missed an opportunity,” said a U-23 team member. CONFUSION When contacted, secretarygeneral, Indian Kayaking and Canoeing Association, Balbir Singh Kushwaha, said, “We received the sanction on July 14 and the next day we deposited the passports and other documents to the agency assignment by the ministry (Balmer Lawrie). They told us it was too late as it takes two-three weeks to get the visa. Our applications were not forwarded to the embassy and we were left with no option but to cancel the trip. It was difficult to tell the players, who had prepared hard for the event.”
There are delays in getting administrative sanction, but generally national sports federations (NSFs) start the visa process and other formalities on their own and get a reimbursement when the sanction comes.
Asked why the association did not set the ball rolling on its own, Kushwaha said, “We are short on funds otherwise we would have initiated the process. Moreover, the sanction came so late that we were in a fix. If the team wasn’t cleared, we would have incurred losses of around ` 1.5 lakh (for visa and insurance). So, we had requested SAI to either give the administrative sanction in time or pay the federations at the start of the financial year.”
A SAI official in the Teams division said, “We are dealing with junior age-group teams with caution. Because of this, approval for age-group teams is taking time.”