Six Indian archers await visa clearance ahead of World Cup in Florida

With less than a week to go before the Archery World Cup gets underway, as many as six archers and three support staff are awaiting their visa clearance. The World Cup Stage 1 is scheduled to be held in Florida from April 8-13. For the archers, its a race against time.

The archers awaiting visa include World champion Aditi Gopichand Swami (compound women), Olympian Dhiraj Bommadevara (recurve men), Uday Kamboj (compound men), Anshika Kumari (recurve women), Madhura Dhamangaonkar (compound women), Chikitha Taniparthi (compound women), Sonam Tshering Bhutia, Jiwanjot Singh Teja and Snober Rupal.

"We submitted our application 40 days back. Since then, we have been struggling to get a visa appointment. First, we were told we will get it. When the time came closer, they said there was a glitch in the system. It will be resolved in a day or two." Archery Association of India's (AAI) assistant secretary Gunjan Abrol told The Bridge on Wednesday.

"For the last 15-20 days the same glitch has been going on. We visited the US embassy several times, sent uncountable emails to the embassy, and also wrote to the Sports Authority of India and the Government of India, but the issue remains." He added

“We had applied for 12 member, but three of them applied separately and got their visa. Nine are still awaiting their appointment," he confirmed.

Dhiraj's plea for help

Earlier, the AAI and Olympian Dhiraj Bommadevara had taken to the social media and sought help. "We are struggling to get an appointment 4 @USAndIndia visa since more than a month and hardly 1 week left 4 our @worldarchery tournament but there is no hope 4 the appointment!" Dhiraj Bommadevara wrote on X.

The Bridge has learnt that this is not the first time the archers are in the mix of visa delay.

"We have two options: either we send those who have the visa or we don't send the entire contingent. Five-six years ago, we faced the same issue. We had then sent the archers who had their visas. We are eager to send our team. They are disappointed and asking for visas. But we have no answers," Gunjan said.

What's at stake

If the archers do not get timely clearance, India will not field a compound women's team as three women archers await their visas, and for a team event, you need Individual scores of three archers.

Failure to participate will result in the loss of crucial ranking points that will impact the archer's rankings. At the Paris Olympics, the Indian recurve teams had earned their quota places by virtue of their rankings.