Whenever there is talk of wrestling competitions in the world, Indian wrestlers are given particular importance. Indian wrestlers have raised their country’s flag by beating other wrestlers in different countries. Despite India’s contribution to Wrestling and how Spain has treated Indian wrestlers, questions have started being raised.
The Indian team was also ready to participate in the Under 23 World Wrestling Championship in Pontevedra, Spain, from October 17 to 23. The Indian Wrestling Federation had also made complete preparations. But most of the players were not given visas by the Spain Embassy. An embassy official said in the mail that he had many doubts about the purpose and conditions of the players’ stay in Spain.
Due to the non-receipt of a visa, this will be the first time in the last 6 years of the competition that the Indian team will not participate. Last year in 2021, this tournament was held in Belgrade, Serbia, where Indian wrestlers won 5 medals.
The Names Of Big Wrestlers Were Included
In the Under-23 tournament competition of Wrestling, 45 people were going to participate from India, of which 30 were female and male wrestlers. These wrestlers also include wrestlers like India’s first World Champion in Under-20 Wrestling, Last Panghal (53 KG), World Cadet Champion Sagar Jaglan (74 KG), and Ritika Hooda.
Vinod Tomar, Assistant Secretary of the Indian Wrestling Federation, said that on October 4, all the selected people’s applications for the Schengen visas were submitted. Accordingly, everyone’s flight tickets were booked.
However, before leaving, the visa applications were cancelled by the Spanish Embassy. The reason for cancelling was because there was doubt in the mind of the Spanish Embassy that these people could stay in Pontevedra for more than the visa period.
Vinod Tomar said that the Embassy wanted the visa of all people to be applied for under premium lounge services. But doing so would increase the cost of the entire trip. Vinod Tomar further said that now we will never send our wrestling team to Spain.
At the same time, we would urge United World Wrestling not to hand over any international tournaments to the Spanish Wrestling Federation.
Complaint Will Be Made To United World Wrestling
Vinod Tomar further said that India would also make an official complaint to United World Wrestling (UWW) regarding the embarrassing situation that Indian wrestlers have faced due to visa cancellation.
Vinod Tomar said he wants us to apply for a visa under premium lounge services, but why should we do this? This is not the first time the Indian team has travelled with a Schengen visa.
Vinod Tomar said that the Embassy has doubts about overstaying our wrestlers there; it is a joke. Vinod Tomar said that out of 45 members, only 9 wrestlers had reached the competition. There is neither a coach nor any support staff with him.
While Canceling The Visa, What Did The Spain Embassy
Indian Wrestling Federation give information about the cancelled visa application of Wrestler Final. On this visa application, it was said on behalf of the Embassy of Spain that the Embassy examined the application, based on which the visa is not being given.
The Embassy also gave two reasons for not providing a visa to Wrestler Ultimate, the first reason being that the information given in the application for staying in the Spanish city is not very clear. The second reason was that the Embassy fears that the players may remain even after their visa expires.
