Written & Edited By : Aditi Mishra
22 September 2023 ( New Delhi ) : According to media reports, three Indian martial arts competitors from a territory claimed by China were forced to withdraw from the Asian Games in Hangzhou after not gaining approval from the host nation.
Three ladies from the northeastern Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh are competing as wushu fighters; Beijing refers to this area as “South Tibet” almost entirely.
Kung fu, also known as wushu, is a multifaceted martial art that has its roots in China. The three were given permission to compete by the Hangzhou Asian Games Organizing Committee, according to the Hindustan Times newspaper, but they were unable to access their accreditation cards, which serve as visas for entry into China. The remainder of the 10-person team and the coaching staff departed for the games in Hangzhou on Wednesday, according to the publication.
Agence France-Presse’s requests for comment were not immediately answered by the Indian Olympic Association or the Ministry of External Affairs.
The same three athletes received stapled rather than pasted visas, a sign that Beijing does not recognize India’s claim to the territory of Arunachal Pradesh, and the Indian wushu team did not attend the World University Games in Chengdu, China, in July as a result.
India reacted angrily to such action, calling it “unacceptable” in the foreign ministry’s statement.
Arunachal Pradesh and its northern neighbor share a Buddhist cultural legacy despite being on opposite sides of the Himalayas from Tibet. Following a failed uprising against Chinese control in his native country in 1959, the Dalai Lama fled via the state and has been in India ever since.
Three years after the Buddhist leader’s escape, Beijing briefly took control of the majority of the region in a brutal struggle. India reacted angrily this year after China renamed 11 locations in the disputed region. The state has continuously been referred to as a “integral and inalienable part of India” by New Delhi.
