After the Chinese government denied travel clearance to three wushu players from Arunachal Pradesh for Asian Games, the Indian authorities have maintained a tight stance on the entire issue. Condemning the actions, Sports Minister Anurag Thakur canceled his visit to China for the event.
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After the incident, the entire country stood firmly behind the three players – Nyeman Wangsu, Onilu Tega, and Mepung Lamgu. The Sports Authority of India also swung into action swiftly to make sure that the three athletes were doing fine. On Saturday, SAI took to X, to show their support for the athletes and shared a picture of them having a meal at the SAI hostel in Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in the national capital.
“We stand with the three #AsianGames2022 bound Wushu athletes, taking the utmost care for them at this hour. The 3 athletes are being taken care of at the SAI Hostel,” SAI wrote in a tweet.
On Friday, two of the Wushu players hailing from Arunachal Pradesh, Onilu and Mepung who were approved to participate by the Hangzhou Asian Games 2023 Organising Committee were unable to download their accreditation cards – which act as visas to enter China. The third athlete Nyeman, who managed to download her accreditation, was informed that she would not be allowed to travel beyond Hong Kong. The athletes were to take part in individual events of the martial arts sport.
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Taking to the social media platform ‘X’ Kiren Rijiju wrote, “I strongly condemn this act by China to deny visas to our Wushu Athletes from Arunachal Pradesh who were to participate in the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou. This violates both the spirit of Sports & also the Rules governing the conduct of Asian Games, which explicitly prohibits discrimination against competitors from member states.”
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