Visa issues force cancellation of boxers’ US training trip

“The Sports Authority of India had cleared everything but we realised that we won’t get the visas in time. So the trip had to be cancelled. Tremendous disappointment but hopefully we can plan it later,” India’s High-Performance Director Santiago Nieva told PTI.

Three-time Asian medallist Shiva Thapa and Hamburg bronze-medallist Gaurav Bidhuri were among the seven Indian male boxers who were scheduled to take a trip to Texas, USA for a 10-day training camp.

The Indian boxers’ first planned training trip to the USA has been cancelled owing to visa-related complications. Seven Indian male boxers were to travel to the acclaimed Michael Johnson Performance Centre in Texas early next month. However, the 10-day trip has been put on hold after the visas did not come through in time.

“The Sports Authority of India had cleared everything but we realised that we won’t get the visas in time. So the trip had to be cancelled. Tremendous disappointment but hopefully we can plan it later,” India’s High-Performance Director Santiago Nieva told PTI.

The squad picked for the trip comprised participants from this year’s World Championships in Hamburg, Germany - Hamburg bronze-medallist Gaurav Bidhuri (56kg), three-time Asian medallist Shiva Thapa (60kg), former CWG gold-medallist Manoj Kumar (69kg), Amit Panghal (49kg), Kavinder Bisht (52kg), Sumit Sangwan (91kg) and Vikas Krishan (75kg).

The Michael Johnson Performance center is much sought after among top athletes and specialises in performance training, physical therapy, biomechanical assessments, and nutrition consultation.