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.
In actuality it seems it is more an issue of the Foggy Bottom swamp.
This seems key:
"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,”
My guess is there are swamp denizens in the diplomatic core who will not allow that to happen because the Chinese Communists would be against it.
If this had happened in December there would not be ONE word about it.
.
There is much more to this story.
The President has not heard about this. He will probably personally fly them over in the Trump jumbo jet and defy his bureaucrats to stop him.
Go President Trump.
Yep.
Trump actually should intervene, but I think Tillerson is a status quo guy.
Note to Tillerson - intervene against your Chicom loving bureaucrats.
“The President has not heard about this. He will probably personally fly them over in the Trump jumbo jet and defy his bureaucrats to stop him.
Go President Trump.”
That would be awesome!
“There is much more to this story.”
Go on...
Kinda like if the Taiwanese Ladies Bowling champions were invited to bowl in some big tournament. It probably wouldn’t be considered very “diplomatic.”
We owe China trillions of dollars.
We owe no debt to Tibet.
I agree.
Poor like dirt Tibetan beggars living off international welfare vs Commies running on capitalist fumes. Hmm
Yep, its a lock that we won’t offend our Chinese money masters. But hey, we sure raught Cuba a lesson, because you know, were anti-Communist.
Sounds like bureaucrats being bureaucrats...
More here: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/feb/28/tibet-womens-soccer-visas-denied
Hope they get their visas.
Interesting they see nothing amiss in declaring they want the trip, NOT to visit the USA, but to promote their team. Gee what a nice compliment.
Of course they blame Trump. Why aren’t they blaming the three and a half million active islamic terrorists that have forced Trump to take the action to try to figure out q way to keep business moving as usual but stopping people we don’t want in here that kill arbitrarily. If we had to review everyone that came in, they’d have to check everyone one at a time to keep it consistent. Don’t have the time, the personnel, or the money.
And why aren’t the people that are running the event willing to postpone it until the plan is in place to protect not only our people, but our visitors also?
red
The obama legacy State Department: kiss up to moslems, cower before the Chinese.
No surprises here.
So they were to be there as guests...but not participants in the sport?
I suspect your guess is right on the money.
Suppose, when they get here, they ask for asylum?
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