US embassy blank ruggermen

GEORGETOWN: The US Embassy in Georgetown has turned down the visa application of a Guyanese referee and four players selected as part of the West Indies Rugby Union (WIRU) contingent for next month’s World Seven Series in Los Angeles. Guyana Rugby Football Union (GRFU) President Christopher ‘Kit’ Nascimento is livid over the action by the US visa authorities, saying the denial of the travel document “has serious implications for the development of sport in the region.” 

In desperation, GRFU officials have appealed the decision here to the US State Department, but Nascimento admitted he is not “optimistic that the embassy will change their position.” Two of the most talented players in the region, Guyanese Theodore Henry and Kevin McKenzie, will miss this year’s tournament because of the decision by US embassy officials and more mystifying is the rejection of the visa to referee Conrad Arjoon, who was specially invited to officiate at the event by the International Rugby Union (IRU).

The embassy has explained that its rejection of the visa applications was because the five ‘‘have no recognisable economic ties to Guyana.” Referee Arjoon has been a successful businessman here since the early 1980s. US embassies have not jeopardised the participation of players short-listed for the West Indies Rugby team from Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, and the Bahamas. Several Guyanese sport and entertainment personalities have absconded while on visits to the US, but Nascimento said “rugby has a clean record.” The Caribbean side has been grouped alongside some of the best rated teams in the world including England, Tongo and Fiji in the World Sevens Series.  Their opening match is on February 12.