India U-23 squad to miss major tournament after 21 wrestlers denied Spanish visas

India suffered a major blow in the U-23 World Wrestling Championships after 21 members of the 30-member squad were denied visas to Spain by the Spanish embassy.

According to reports in the media, the reason for the denial of the visa is due to the intentions of the players to leave the territory before the expiry of the visa.

The Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) had picked a 30-member squad for the World Championship but only nine were granted after the embassy of Spain denied visas to 21 of the wrestlers.

India has had a prolific record in the previous editions of the prestigious tournament, with the team bagging five medals at the 2021 edition of the tournament.

The Wrestling Championship will take place from October 17-23 in Pontevedra in northwest Spain.

Amit Panghal who recently became the Under-20 woman World Champion was also scheduled to play in the tournament but was not cleared to travel.

A total squad strength of 45 members was to travel to Spain including staff and players but now the travel has been shelved due to the denial of visas.

Only Aman (57 kg) of the ten freestyle wrestlers received a visa; the visa requests of the other nine were denied. It's interesting to note that three free-style instructors received visas.

Only Ankush (50 kg) and Mansi (59 kg) of the six Greco-Roman wrestlers were able to obtain visas.

The head coach of the Greco-Roman team, Mahabir Prasad, demanded a ban on Spain.

( With inputs from ANI )