Para-Shooting World Cup 2022: Singharaj Adhana and 5 more denied visas; to miss event
The Para-Shooting World Cup 2022 will be held in France. However, five Indian para-athletes, including Singharaj Adhana, have been denied visas and will miss the event.
FollowSix members of the Indian para-shooting contingent, including twin Paralympic medallist Singharaj Adhana, have failed to travel to Chateauroux, France, for the upcoming World Shooting Para Sport World Cup. They have been denied visas, despite the intervention of the Indian government. After Tokyo Paralympic Games gold medallist shooter Avani Lekhara took to Twitter, the matter came into focus. She sought help when her escort cum mother, Shewata Jewaria, and coach Rakesh Manpat were denied visas. But, talking to PTI, chief national coach and chairman of Indian Para Shooting, Jai Prakash Nautiyal, stated that Lekhara and Manpat's visas were cleared.
"Avani and her coach's visas were granted, but her escort, who is also her mother, didn't get her visa. Besides, three para shooters -- Singharaj, Rahul Jhakhar and Deepinder Singh (all para pistol shooters) and two coaches, Subhas Rana (national coach) and Vivek Saini (assistant coach), did not get their visas," Nautiyal said.
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"The French embassy didn't mention any reason and said there is a huge surge for visas. We applied for our visas on April 23, and we're sure of getting all cleared. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) also intervened and was helping us, but despite that, visas of six members were rejected," he added.
The event from June 4 to 13 is significant for Indian para shooters as Paris Paralympics quota places were offered there. "We are now going with a 22-member contingent, including 14 shooters. We were quite confident of getting visas of all members cleared since Paris will be the host for the next Paralympics, and there are 18 2024 Paralympics quota places on offer in the tournament," Nautiyal said.
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Replying to Avani's tweet, the Sports Authority of India (SAI) termed the incident as unfortunate. "It is unfortunate that all the visas of the Indian Para Shooting Contingent going to France have not been approved. All efforts were made by MYAS and MEA to secure all visas, but unfortunately, this time, the efforts did not materialise," SAI tweeted.
