WFI president left surprised after Spain declines visa to 21 Indian wrestlers

The Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) has been left surprised after the Spanish embassy rejected visas for Indian wrestlers on the suspicion that the athletes will not return to the country on the expiry of their visas. Following the Spanish embassy's decision, WFI president BBS Singh reacted to the incident. Singh stated that this is the first time something like this has happened and that countries cannot decline visas for players of any nationality even if they do not share friendly relations with them.

WFI president speaks on Spain's decision to reject visas

In a conversation with ANI, WFI president BBS Singh said, "This is the first time such an incident has happened. A country is given the permission to hold a tournament on the condition that it cannot stop any player from other countries from taking part, even if it does not share friendly relations with them. It is unfortunate that 9 out of 30 players were (only) given visas. We held the Asian Championship two years ago. Despite not having good relations with Pakistan at that time, we gave them visas."

The Wrestling Federation of India president's remarks came after only nine out of 30 Indian wrestlers competing at the World Championships were given visas by Spain. The National Federation revealed that Spain had declined the other visas on suspicion that the wrestlers will not leave the country before the expiry of their visas.

Speaking of the issue, WFI's assistant secretary Vinod Tomar told PTI, "This is something we have never faced before. Despite presenting the Indian government's clearance and an invitation from the world governing body UWW, our wrestlers have been denied visas on the most frivolous ground."

He added, "We have got the rejection letters this evening (Monday) after we made a request to release the passports as soon as possible. This is really bizarre. I really don't know how the officer came to the conclusion that wrestlers and coaches won't come back to India." It were just not the wrestlers who were denied visas, as the WFI had also applied for visas for nine of their coaches and only six of them received it.