Indian Wushu team has pulled out of World University Games in Chengdu after China refused to grant stamped visas, instead issued stapled visas to three athletes from Arunachal Pradesh.
The 12-member Indian Wushu team (martial art), consisting of eight players, one coach, and three officials, was scheduled to leave for the Games which is scheduled to start from July 28. Among them were three female athletes from Arunachal Pradesh. But in late night drama the Indian contingent were stopped by the airport authorities in New Delhi on Thursday midnight, as confirmed by coach Raghvendra Singh and as a mark of protest Indian government decided to withdraw from the World University Games in China.
Indian Wushu team applied for visas on July 16. But where the other team members were granted visas on time, the three female athletes from Arunachal Pradesh were barred from it as their documents were not accepted, thus, the Chinese authority returned their passports with stapled visa instead of stamped visas.
Coach Raghvendra Singh told in a statement that the authority didn't give any reason and claimed they were merely acting on Chinese embassy's instructions.
"They did not give any reason and claimed they were merely acting on the government’s instructions,” Singh told Indian Express.
Meanwhile, spokesperson for Ministry for External Affairs, Arindam Bagchi called the Chinese decision 'unacceptable' and said that ‘India reserves the right to suitably respond to such actions’.
“It has come to our notice that stapled visas were issued to some of our citizens representing the country in an international sporting event in China. This is unacceptable and we have lodged our strong protest with the Chinese side, reiterating our consistent position on the matter,” he said.
What is a stapled visa?
A stapled visa is a type of visa that is attached to paper rather than being stamped into a passport. When a stapled visa is issued, the immigration officer does not put a stamp on the passenger/applicant's passport. Instead, they attach another paper to the passport with all the trip details, such as the purpose and duration of the journey in the destination country. This paper is then stamped by the officials, and it's referred to as the stapled visa.
It is not the first time China has done this. Similar incident happened in 2011 as well when the Chinese embassy issued stapled visas to five karate players from Arunachal Pradesh for a championship in Quanghou. Also in 2013, two archers, Sprang Yumi and Maselo Mihu, were stopped from taking part in the Youth World Archery Championship.
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