Bengaluru, July 23: After the Indian table tennis team was left stranded at the IGI airport on Monday, it was the Indian cycling team's turn to shoulder their share of travelling issues. Visas, tickets should be the last thing worrying a sportsperson, but that is unfortunately not the case.

Air India leaves Indian Table Tennis squad stranded at IGI airport

The Switzerland Embassy rejected the visa application of the six-member Indian cycling team, set to participate in the 2018 UCI Junior Track Cycling World Championships. The competition is scheduled to be held from August 15-19 at Aigle in Switzerland.

But off-track problems have hit the team even before they can embark on their journey. According to the Swiss embassy their visa was rejected because the documentation had not been done correctly. The reasons mainly included, "justification for purpose and conditions, and intended stay wasn't provided; info submitted regarding the same wasn't reliable; and intention to leave territory of member states before visa expiry couldn't be ascertained."

Secretary General of Cycling Federation of India & Asian Cycling Confederation has written to Swiss Embassy, requesting them to issue the necessary VISA to Indian Cycling Team to enable them for participation in UCI Junior Track World Championships. https://t.co/hgaos9mLsS

— ANI (@ANI) July 23, 2018

According to ANI, the Secretary General of the Cycling Federation of India and Asian Cycling Confederation has written to the Swiss Embassy, requesting them to issue the necessary visa to the cycling team so that they can participate in the world championships. Meanwhile, CFI secretary general, Onkar Singh, stated that the visas had been denied despite all paperwork being complete.

As reported by the Times of India, Singh said, "They have told us that we are not sure about the purpose of your visit and duration, but we have attached the tournament's invitation letter and other required documents.

"Although online registration for the tournament opened only today, it has nothing to do with the visa process. We have had problems with Switzerland embassy in the past as well when our visas have been unnecessarily delayed," Singh added.

A report stated that the federation has written to the organising committee of the tournament and are awaiting their response. "After we hear from them, we will act accordingly and ask for Sports Ministry's help, if needed," Singh was quoted by TOI.

Let's hope that the situation, which simply looks like a paperwork issue, is quickly resolved and the cyclists can go ahead and compete in the tournament. The six-member team includes coach Amar Singh, Bilal Ahmad Dar, Gurpreet Singh, Manoj Sahu, Naman Kapil and Venkappa Shivappa.