India hits back at China as Arunachal Pradesh wushu athletes denied entry, Anurag Thakur cancels tour

India hit back at China after it denied accreditation and entry to 3 Wushu players from Arunachal Pradesh ahead of Asian Games 2023 in Hangzhou.

As a mark of our protest against the Chinese action, Union Sports Minister Anurag Thakur on Friday cancelled his visit to China for the Games following the 'discrimination.'

MEA in an official statement further rejected differential treatment of Indian citizens on the basis of domicile or ethnicity and asserted that Arunachal Pradesh 'was, is and will always remain an integral and inalienable part of India.'

'Government of India reserves the right to take suitable measures to safeguard our interests,' the statement added.

Minister of Earth Sciences of India, Kiren Rijiju, who hails from Arunachal Pradesh, also condemned the act. 'This violates both the spirit of Sports & also the Rules governing the conduct of Asian Games, which explicitly prohibits discrimination against competitors from member states,' read a part of the tweet from Rijiju.

Also read: Asian Games 2023: 3 wushu players from Arunachal Pradesh denied visa for China | Hangzhou 2022

Arunachal Pradesh's Wushu athletes have reportedly been unable to travel to China for the ongoing Asian Games in Hangzhou. The trio of Nyeman Wangsu, Onilu Tega and Mepung Lamgu were forced to stay back in Delhi even though the other squad members did not suffer any issues and were able to travel to Hangzhou.

As per reports, the Hangzhou Asian Games Organising Committee has given the accreditation cards to the three athletes but their cards could not be downloaded for validation. Notably, this was not an issue for the other athletes. The trio was part of the 11-member Wushu squad that was set to leave for China on Wednesday night from the IGI Airport.