`Will take up issue with MEA`, says Manohar Lal Khattar after Spain Embassy denied visas to 21 Indian squad members for U-23 WWC

Chandigarh: Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Wednesday said that he would take up the issue of the denial of visas to 21 members of the 30-strong Indian squad for the U-23 World Wrestling Championships by the Spanish Embassy with the Ministry of External Affairs. Khattar also assured help from the state government at every step. India suffered a major blow in the U-23 World Wrestling Championships after 21 members of the 30-member squad were denied visas to Spain by the Spanish Embassy. Haryana Sports Minister Sandeep Singh also termed the controversy over the denial of the visas to the players as highly unfortunate.

Singh said that he would talk to the Union Sports Minister Anurag Thakur regarding the issue. Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chairman Brijbhushan Sharan Singh said on Tuesday that this has happened for the very first time. 

"When a tournament is assigned to a country, there is a condition that they would not stop players from any country from coming, not even players from countries with which they have strained relations," told the chairman to ANI.

 "It is highly unfortunate that it has happened. Asian Championships happened two years back and back then we had highly tensed relations with Pakistan. Despite that, we gave visas, hotel and security to Pakistan players and dropped them safely at the Wagah border after the tournament," he added. 

Brijbhushan pointed out that nine out of 30 players have got their visas and the ones who have been denied a visa have supporting documents from the government and the organisers of the championships. According to reports in the media, the reason for the denial of the visa is due to the intentions of the players to leave the territory before the expiry of the visa.

The Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) had picked a 30-member squad for the World Championship, but only nine were granted after the embassy of Spain denied visas to 21 of the wrestlers. India has had a prolific record in the previous editions of the prestigious tournament, with the team bagging five medals at the 2021 edition of the tournament.

The Wrestling Championship will take place from October 17-23 in Pontevedra in northwest Spain. Amit Panghal who recently became the Under-20 woman World Champion was also scheduled to play in the tournament but was not cleared to travel. A total squad strength of 45 members was to travel to Spain including staff and players but now the travel has been shelved due to the denial of visas. Only Aman (57 kg) of the ten freestyle wrestlers received a visa; the visa requests of the other nine were denied.

It`s interesting to note that three free-style instructors received visas. Only Ankush (50 kg) and Mansi (59 kg) of the six Greco-Roman wrestlers were able to obtain visas. The head coach of the Greco-Roman team, Mahabir Prasad, demanded a ban on Spain.