Best Odds Center
best odds centre button
Click here!
Sport TV
watch live tv button
Click here!
to watch
Live FootBall
NPFL
Click here!
Live Scores
play watch Live Score button
Click here!

Team Nigeria withdraws from 2025 World Relays after visa hitch from China

Posted : 09 May 2025

The Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) announced on Friday the withdrawal of Team Nigeria from the 2025 World Relays in Guangzhou, China.


The decision came after the Athletics governing body in Nigeria claimed that the Chinese embassy had frustrated the attendance of the Nigerian contingent due to the initial denial of visas.


Although reports indicate that China eventually authorized the issuance of the visas, the AFN stated that it was far too late for meaningful participation in the competition.


This last-minute issuance, occurring on the very day our team was scheduled to arrive in Guangzhou, made participation logistically impossible and demonstrated a fundamental failure of Chinese administrative processes.


The AFN highlighted the following specific failures by Chinese authorities that directly resulted in Team Nigeria's inability to participate:


Excessive and Discriminatory Requirements: Chinese authorities imposed visa requirements that far exceeded international sporting norms, including demands for documentation that were particularly burdensome for Nigerian nationals.


Deliberate Processing Delays: Despite our athletes submitting passport applications at Chinese Embassies in Washington DC, Berlin, and Abuja on April 25, 2025—a full two weeks before the competition—Chinese authorities delayed processing without reasonable explanation.


Verification Letter Confusion: The Chinese visa system’s requirement for a special "Verification Letter of Invitation" was poorly communicated and inconsistently applied, with LOC officials themselves unclear about their own procedures.


Inexplicable Final Delay: Even after all documentation was finally accepted as complete, Chinese authorities held the applications for additional days without justification, only to issue the visas on May 8—the very day the team needed to be in China," the AFN said.

 

 

ADD A COMMENT :

Hot Topics

close button
Please fill captcha :