Indian Taekwondo team struggling for visa appointment before World C'ships in Mexico

A 20-member Indian Taekwondo team preparing for Taekwondo World Championships 2022 in Mexico from 13th November to 20th November is suffering from visa problems.

India's top-ranked Taekwondo player Latika Bhandari in a tweet requested foreign minister Dr S Jaishankar, Sports Minister Anurag Singh Thakur, Law Minister Kiren Rijiju and Prime Minister Narender Modi to help the team.

In her tweet addressing all the ministers and the Ministry of External Affairs, Latika explained that the team which is ready to participate in the World Championships in Mexico is unable to get any Visa appointment at the Mexican embassy in Delhi for the past month.

Latika is a bronze medallist in Asian Championships in 2014. Her other achievements include a gold medal at the 2018 Fujairah Open, a silver medal at the Commonwealth Taekwondo Championship in 2017, a silver medal in WTF World Taekwondo Championship again in 2017 and a bronze in the 2016 Israel Open.

Recently, the Embassy of Spain denied visas to 21 Indian wrestlers, who were to compete at the U-23 World Championship in Pontevedra, on suspicion that they will not leave the territory before the expiry of their visas.

U-20 World Champion Antim Panghal and many big names missed the tournament due to this and India had to field a depleted team.