GUWAHATI: The Meghalaya State Kickboxing Association (MSKA) has still not given up hope on Hameshaniah Suiam’s participation in the world kickboxing meet in Russia even as there are a couple of hurdles to overcome with time running out.
Firstly, the 21-year-old promising kick-boxer, ranked 28th in the world, will have to get a visa clearance from the Union ministry of external affairs. Secondly, his name has to be registered offline as the deadline for online registration has elapsed.
The 9th Diamond Cup WAKO Kickboxing 2018 will get under way at Anapa, Russia from Wednesday till June 4. The main events however will start from Thursday.
“Yes, though quite late in the day, we are optimistic given that the state government has come forward to support us. In fact, former ambassador, Rudi Warjri is in touch with the ministry of external affairs for the visa clearance while sports minister, Banteidor Lyngdoh has written a letter to the joint secretary on Sunday on the matter,” MSKA working president, Lorenzo P. Warjri told The Shillong Times on Tuesday.
A four-time gold medalist, Suiam had left for New Delhi by a 9am flight from the LGBI Airport here on Tuesday.
“Now, once the visa clearance is done, we have to press WAKO for offline registration as the online deadline has been missed and also pay about 50 Euro for it. Time is running out though as the offline registration has to be completed by Wednesday,” Warjri said.
The young athlete had to take a loan of Rs 1.3lakh (already deposited with WAKO India Kickboxing Federation) from the bank, given that funds are a constraint for MSKA, which was formed last year and is yet to be affiliated to the Meghalaya State Olympic Association.
“We had demanded Rs 5lakh from the government earlier as we had to send four other athletes to Russia as well. However their trip has been cancelled now as we have no choice owing to funds crunch,” he said.
“But we are grateful to the sports minister for financial support of Rs 1.5lakh which has been sanctioned for Hameshaniah’s expenses. The Khasi Students’ Union has also offered financial help with which we could purchase his flight ticket to Delhi,” the MSKA working president said.
Asked if the uncertainty and last-minute hassles would affect the athlete’s performance, Warjri said, “It is affecting his preparation. He is currently ranked 28th in the world and had finished fifth in Budapest last year. The more one takes part in world meets, the more is the scope for going up on the rankings.”
As of today, kickboxing in Meghalaya is split between two warring associations – MSKA and the Meghalaya Association of Kickboxing Organisations, formed in 1998 and affiliated to MSOA since 2005.