Kathmandu, September 25:

Nepal was forced to pull out of the World Olympic Qualifying Tournament slated for September 28-30 in Manchester after the British Embassy here denied visas to the four taekwondo players and two officials.

The four players — Deepak Bista, Manita Shahi, Ayesha Shakya and Kumar Manandhar — arrived in Kathmandu from South Korea on Friday and had applied for the visas the same day.

The players along with coach Kwon Hyouk Joung (who does not require the visas from here) and officials Ravi Raj Singh (treasurer of Nepal Taekwondo Association) and Niran Khadka of National Sports Council were scheduled to leave for Manchester on Monday. The team had to postpone their departure after the embassy here did not grant visa yesterday.

Nepal Taekwondo Association was forced to pull out of the event after the embassy refused to provide visas today as well. Asked about the issue, NTA president Rukma Shumsher Rana refused to comment on the matter saying his association would issue a press statement on Wednesday.

“We were all prepared for the tournament, but the denial of visa has dampen our preparation for the Olympic qualification,” said Bista, who had earlier travelled thrice to the United States and three European countries.

“It came to us as a real surprise and we were hurt as we lost a wonderful opportunity to test our mettle against the world-class players,” he added. Popular figure in Nepali sports, Bista has three South Asian Games gold medals under his belt followed by two bronze at the Asian Games.

Manita Shahi said she had no words to describe her grievience. “We are helpless and the sad part is that we are not able to participate in the tournament. The coach also had a lot of expectations from us and I was confident of doing something in the tournament,” said Manita, the South Asian Games gold medallist and Asian Games bronze winner. Ayesha Shakya won silver in SA Games and bronze in the Asiad, while Kumar Manandhar won silver in the SA Games.

Nepal will now have to rely on the Asian Olympic Qualifying Tournament — to be held in Vietnam in December — to send the taekwondo players to the Beijing Olympics.