Vinayak Padmadeo
Tribune News Service
NEW DELHI, APRIL 2
Two-time World Championships medallist Bajrang Punia and Satyawart Kadian are doubtful starters in the upcoming Senior Asian Wrestling Championships. Both the grapplers are yet to apply for visa to travel to Xi’an, China, for the April 23-25 tournament.
The Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) has submitted the passports of all but seven women wrestlers who went to Los Angeles to participate in the annual Beat The Streets competition and then moved on to a ten-day camp at Colorado Springs, USA.
Bajrang (61kg) and Satyawart (97kg) had informed the federation that they would be applying for the visa through JSW, an NGO which supports them.
Accordingly, WFI submitted around 40 passports, including those of the wrestlers and the support staff, to the visa application centre. They will be submitting the remaining passports, including those of Sakshi Malik and Pooja Dhanda, latest by April 13. When contacted, an WFI official confirmed the development saying they did not get the passports of Bajrang and Satyawart. “We don’t have their passports so we did not apply for visa on their behalf,” WFI assistant secretary told The Tribune on Tuesday. “We were communicated that they will be applying for visas on their own so we left it at that,” he added.
Normally, it takes four working days to get the Chinese visa, though there is an express service too. But, the grapplers now want WFI to help them get the travel visa. WFI also said the Indian men’s contingent is supposed to travel to North Ossetia-Alania in Russia for a 15-day training stint on April 6 and that may become a hurdle to get the visas for the two wrestlers.
Sources close to Bajrang said that they were helpless as their passports are still at the Russian embassy. “The federation only got in touch with him yesterday... Besides, his and Satyawart’s passports are still at the embassy,” he said. “There is still time to finish all the formalities.”
Ossetia miss?
Bajrang may be forced to miss the training schedule if his travel plans for the Asian Championships do not get sorted out soon. “Worst case scenario, he stays in India and travels to China from here only,” he added. The same confusion happened before the women’s team's departure for the Beat the Streets competition. WFI had to get the visa documents for Olympics bronze medallist Sakshi and 2018 World Championships bronze medallist Pooja Dhanda at the last moment.
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