Young cueist Laxman Rawat, one of the three Indians selected to participate in the International Billiards and Snooker Federation (IBSF) World under-21 championship in Montreal, has been stranded due to denial of visa by the Canadian embassy here.
Nineteen-year-old Rawat, along with Varun Madan and Rovin d'Souza, was selected to represent the country following a week-long camp in Bangalore last month.
However, the Canadian embassy rejected Rawat's visa application, while giving a go-ahead to the other two. Rawat said the embassy cited lack of previous travel experience and insufficient funds in his account as reasons behind the rejection of his visa application (on June 24). “My fellow cueists got the visa as they had previously travelled abroad,” said Rawat, who had emerged as the ‘number one' cueist in the camp. “I approached the embassy again with documents which said that the Government of India had approved my visit and would bear all the expenses. Since I am a student, I had also submitted my father's bank statements and other relevant documents. But they again turned down the request today,” said Rawat, who was coached by late Mukesh Rehani, on Tuesday.
Rawat is now certain to miss the championship, which starts from Wednesday. According to Billiards and Snooker Federation of India (BSFI) sources, Indian cueists had faced similar problems during the last edition of the championship held in Ireland in 2010. —
