Agencies
The three Indian martial arts athletes unable to compete at the Hangzhou Asian Games due to a politically-charged visa issue are “mentally broken” by the affair, team-mates told Reuters on Sunday.
The absent trio – Mepung Lamgu, Nyeman Wangsu and Onilu Tega – come from Arunachal Pradesh, a state in the northeast of India which China claims as part of Tibet. The Wushu athletes were issued with stapled China visas instead of stamped ones, according to India's foreign ministry, meaning they could not travel as India does not accept stapled visas as valid. “I trained in the camps with them, but it feels so sad because they also tried very hard to get in this position,” Anjul Namdeo, 31, told Reuters, after a sixth-placed finish in the men's Changquan final. “As an athlete I feel very bad, but it's up to the ministry. I can't do anything.
“Sometimes they talk to me because it's every sports players dream to perform in this arena, biggest arena like this,” Namdeo added. “It's like Asia's olympics. So they feel sad. They feel broken, you can say, because they also trained so hard.” Suraj Singh Mayanglambam, a 24-year-old from Manipur, which lies close to Arunachal Pradesh though not on a border with China, was similarly devastated by the news.
“I feel very bad because we are training together, enjoying together all of our events, all of us,” a visibly distraught Mayanglambam said following his fifth-place finish in the men's Changquan.
“The matter is so upsetting. They have been preparing every day for months. Now all injury, time, energy, all a waste … They're at home now preparing for the world championship but feel very upset because of this, mentally breakdown on this.”
One of the trio, Lamgu, on Saturday posted on X, formerly Twitter, that she was “alright” and safe in India following reports in Indian media that she had gone missing after being unable to compete.
But on Sunday she was still on the start list for her event given to journalists at the competition venue in the remote southeast outskirts of Hangzhou.
