Czech Republic denies para archers visas, India wants quotas scrapped

Mumbai, July 2 (SocialNews.XYZ) India wants World Archery and International Paralympic Committee (IPC) to rescind the quota places available at the Final Paralympic Qualification tournament as the country's team has been denied a chance to compete in the event and qualify for the Tokyo Paralympic Games.

The team had to withdraw from the Final Paralympic Qualification and World Ranking Tournament in Nove-Mesto, Czech Republic, as it was denied visas because of the spread of COVID-19 pandemic in India.

Six archers, including top woman compound archer Jyoti Baliyan -- and five officials -- were to participate in the event scheduled to be held from July 3 to 10. However, the Czech Republic did not issue visas to para archers from India and Brazil as they were marked as extremely high-risk countries by their ministries of health and foreign affairs.

"The Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports has advised the Archery Association of India and Paralympic Committee of India to take up the matter with World Archery and International Paralympic Committee respectively and protest that the quotas in the Final Qualification for Tokyo Paralympics be rescinded," the Ministry said in a release on Friday.

The ministry has cited the case of the 2019 ISSF World Cup in New Delhi, which was denied two quota places because Indian visas were not made available to two Pakistani shooters. The IOC had scrapped the two quota places out of the 16 that were to be available at that event.

The Sports Ministry wants the same yardstick to be applied as the Czech Republic had denied Indian para archers a chance to compete and clinch their berths to Tokyo.

Source: IANS