Posted on 03/01/2017 4:34:53 PM PST by ifinnegan
Having made its mark in the tournaments held across the Indian sub-continent, the Tibetan Women’s soccer team had heartbreak as the United States (US) embassy denied a visa to the team members to travel to the country where they were to take part in the Dallas Cup.
The Tibetan women’s football team was invited by former English football player and manager Gordon Harold Jago to the Dallas Cup, a famous friendly youth tournament having soccer stars like David Beckham and Wayne Rooney in the alumni list.
Trained by Cassie Childers, a US woman footballer from New Jersey, under the aegis of the Tibetan National Sports Association (TNSA), the team debuted in Gyalum Chemo Memorial Gold Cup in 2012, winning its first match 2-0.
Since then, the team has played in several tournaments across India as well as in Discover Football event held in Germany in 2015.
Meanwhile, the exile women team has posted a video on social networking site Facebook expressing disappointment on being denied visa.
In the video, the disappointed team members are seen in their football jerseys while one of them is reading out a letter written to Harold Jago expressing gratitude for the invitation. The 2-minute footage was posted on Childers’s facebook page on February 25.
“We were looking forward to this trip from very first day, not because it was a visit to US but for it would have provided us an opportunity to represent our country Tibet to the world. We were really excited,” said the Tibetan woman player in the video.
“But the US embassy rejected our visa stating that we don’t have any strong reason to go there. What reason could be bigger than that we are representing our country,” she added.
Coach Childers has also expressed her disappointment over the denial of the visa saying no proper explanation was given by the embassy, despite the team members fulfilled all the requirements as per the US visa guidelines.
The 15-member soccer team had sought a ten-day tourist visa to visit US to attend the Dallas cup as guests.
“The ten-day trip would have seen the Tibetan team lead the opening day parade into the Cotton Bowl stadium carrying the Tibetan flag, and the honour of being the first sports team to represent Tibet on US soil,” wrote Childers on her Facebook page, adding that team was also to train with a university’s women’s team in Texas during their visit.
The team has requested the authorities at the embassy to review the decision. A crowd fund sourcing platform has also been initiated to recover the visa fee to and to replenish the fund-starved team.
“We have decided to keep going despite all of this. We will never give up and will arrange alternative tour, to some place where Tibetans are welcome,” coach Childers said.
Given the politics in the State Department, I'm guessing he did this to try and make Trump look like a meanie.
Still waiting for the senate to confirm Trump's pick: Terry Branstad.
They are from India.
They travel on Indian passports.
They were turned down at a consulate in India.
Two of the team were on Nepalese passports.
“Suppose, when they get here, they ask for asylum?”
They have a hearing and probably be turned down.
They are traveling on Indian passports and live in India. No basis for asylum and it’s unlikely any would ask.
The article didn’t say any of that... where did you read that?
Actually four were Nepalese and it was the Embassy not consulate.
Most of the players were about 18 to 20 years old, said Cassie Childers, the team’s coach. India does not recognize the players as refugees from Tibet, she said, but as legal residents of India; four players are Nepali citizens.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/feb/28/tibet-womens-soccer-visas-denied
#3. You are right. Something smells as the spokeswoman said that this trip was a chance to “represent” their “country”.
ONLY Red China conquered Tibet in 1959, slaughtering tens of thousands and later killing hundreds of thousands more, but claimed that Tibet was always a “province of China”.
There is no longer an INDEPENDENT TIBET so this could be a Red Chinese propaganda operation to cover up their aggression and genocide in occupied Tibet.
This story needs a lot of follow-up. I don’t buy it as it stands.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.