Asia Olympic council looking into Indian athletes’ China visa issue
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Acting Olympic Council of Asia president Raja Randhir Singh said the council and Asian Games organisers are examining the issue.
PHOTO: AFP
HANGZHOU – The Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) and Asian Games organisers are examining the issue of three Indian athletes who were unable to join the event in China due to a visa problem, acting OCA president Raja Randhir Singh said on Sunday.
“OCA is looking into it, definitely,” as well as organisers and the government, he told a press conference in Hangzhou.
“Since it’s a diplomatic issue, they’re looking into it. And hopefully, let’s see, (whether) something good comes out of it.”
The three female wushu exponents from the state of Arunachal Pradesh were issued stapled visas instead of stamped ones, India’s foreign ministry said. India does not accept stapled visas as valid.
The rest of the 10-member squad, along with the coaching staff, left for the Games on Wednesday, according to reports.
Wei Jizhong, chairman of the OCA’s ethics committee, told reporters last week that China did not refuse entry to the athletes.
In a similar incident in July, the Indian wushu team did not travel to the Chinese city of Chengdu for the World University Games after the same three athletes were issued stapled, rather than pasted, visas.
The practice of issuing visas on loose sheets of paper has been seen as China’s way of questioning India’s sovereignty over Arunachal Pradesh, a north-eastern region near the China-India border that Beijing claims as part of Tibet.
New Delhi vociferously rejects the claim, saying Arunachal Pradesh has always been part of India.
Beijing and New Delhi fought a war over the disputed Himalayan frontier in 1962 and have been uneasy neighbours ever since. Relations nosedived in 2020 over a border clash in which 20 Indian and four Chinese soldiers were killed.
At the Asian Games, delayed by a year due to Covid-19, some 12,400 athletes from 45 teams are competing for 481 gold medals across a huge programme of 40 sports.
India has sent a 655-strong contingent to the quadrennial event, with its athletes winning five medals (three silvers, two bronzes) in rowing and shooting on Sunday.
The OCA also said that it is happy for the North Korea flag to keep flying at the Games, despite it being banned over the country's non-compliance with global anti-doping rules.
The World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) banned the flag at all major sporting events, outside the Olympic and Paralympic Games, in 2021 after deeming North Korea had failed to implement an effective testing programme.
But North Korean athletes marched proudly behind the flag at Saturday’s opening ceremony and it has been displayed at competitions and in the athletes’ village.
North Korean athletes marched proudly behind the flag at Saturday’s opening ceremony.
Singh said Asian Games organisers and North Korea were in discussions with Wada but that the flag was still “flying”.
“North Korea also has written to Wada as well, explaining their position,” the Indian sports administrator told reporters on Sunday.
“We are explaining it from our side as well... our intention is that everyone should participate and everyone should have the opportunity to participate.”
The Hangzhou Asian Games are the first international multi-sport event North Korea is attending since the 2018 edition in Jakarta.
It was suspended by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) until the end of 2022, missing last year's Beijing Winter Games, after failing to send a team to the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. REUTERS
