Weightlifting: IWF cries foul after being denied visa by two countries

As two countries denied visa to Indian teams in the last two days, the Indian Weightlifting Federation today cried foul and lodged protest with the respective governing bodies of the game for “denying right to participate”.
The senior and junior Indian teams for the December 5-7 Commonwealth Championships were today denied visa by the Cyprus consulate owing to “procedural lapse” according to the IWF.

The tour of Korea for Junior and Youth Asian Championships — slated from December 3-5 — had to be scrapped yesterday due to same reason.

IWF General Secretary B R Gulati said they have lodged a “formal protest” with the host federations, Commonwealth and the Asian Federations for the “unforgiving experience”.

“We are convinced that we have been treated unfairly and denied our right of participation entirely due to a very different approach by the host organisation,” he said in his protest letter to the Asian Weightlifting Federation and the Korean Federation.

“We have been repeatedly insulted and humiliated at the Embassy in New Delhi, doubting the credentials of our lifters and team/technical officials.

“The championships being of Youth and Juniors, most of the participants from India were naturally young people, not necessarily with any previous International exposure.

“There passports were naturally new and not endorsed for any previous trip abroad. The profession for these young people cannot be anything but student,” he said.

Gulati also demanded compensation for the expenses incurred on the training and logistic arrangements from the federations-concerned.

Weightlifting: Team misses competitions because of IWF’s delay

Delays have cost the weightlifters a few competitions. With it’s penchant to stir controversies, the Indian Weightlifting Federation was once again caught on the wrong foot as for the first time ever its teams will miss the Commonwealth Championships and Junior and Youth Asian Championships owing to delay in procuring visas.

India’s tour of Korea for Junior and Youth Asian Championships, slated from December 3-5, has already been “scrapped in toto” while the December 5-7 competition in Cyprus is in limbo despite goverment clearance as visas could not be obtained in time due to procedural lapses blamed on the part of the Federation.

The team for the Commonwealth Championships will wait till tomorrow evening for visa but it has already dropped five of its members — two men and women in the senior category and a girl from the junior division — as their competition will be over by the time the team is expected to reach there, informed sources said.

Asked to explain the “procedural lapses”, sources said the teams were selected at the last moment due to which everything got delayed.

“Players’ cases were presented late and the documents were not proper to meet the procedures. Otherwise, sports teams get visas in a day,” they told PTI.

“The Federation selected the team without conducting the selection trials and in the absence of a government observer.

“IWF General Secretary BR Gulati made the list sitting in Delhi and he once again ignored Shailaja Pujari, saying she was serving life-ban and not eligible for selection as she was twice caught in the doping net,” the sources said.