Click to play videoNew Delhi: Golfer Smriti Mehra has one of the most easy going personalities you would get to see on the golf course. And the fact, that despite a busy schedule she never fails to turn up for events in India speaks volumes about her commitment towards Indian golf. So it is clearly a matter of concern visa problems year after year have started to make her feel disillusioned.
“Indian consulate makes it so difficult to get visas for the sports people. They expect them to come for visa and wait for 15 days but I am in the city for not more than a week,” says Smriti.
And she is not alone, according to the most players with foreign passports, the Indian consulate's demand for their passports two weeks before a tournament. The visa purpose has become a big problem, especially as the players continue to juggle between flights and countries for tournaments every week and can't surrender passport so much in advance.
“It is very hard to get a visa because you need your passport as you are travelling,” says another golfer Veronica.
And thanks to that the organisers have barely managed to take the number of competitors at the Women's Open to around 70 with at least 20 golfers denied the chance to compete due to visa problems.
“For sports people they should be able to get the visa by through a much bigger process and I think it is a matter of time and I guess this is understood,” says an organiser.
And with chances of renewal of their contract with DLF after this year looking bleak due to current financial climate, the visa problem is clearly not the only one at hand for women's golf in India.
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