Visa okayed: Girls with cerebral palsy to play in UK

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: After several days of anxious wait, five girls with cerebral palsy from Kerala are now a relieved lot. Their visas have finally been approved and they can now travel to the UK to participate in an international football tournament. The girls constitute the five-member team representing India in the intercontinental football tournament for children with cerebral palsy. Organised by the International Federation of Cerebral Palsy Football (IFCPF), the tourney began in Loughborough on Monday. Having undergone a rigorous one-month coaching camp in Alappuzha, the girls were in distress owing to the delay in issuance of UK visas. Their parents too stayed at the camp organised by the Cerebral Palsy Sports Federation of India (CPSFI). Following a report published in TNIE on August 15 highlighting the plight of the children, the Chief Ministers Office intervened and took up the matter with the Ministry of External Affairs and the UK Embassy in India. We are thankful to the chief ministers chief principal secretary K M Abraham who contacted us after seeing the news report. He and S Harikishore, NORKA secretary and officer on special duty at the CMO, who liasoned with the MEA and embassy, gave us real-time updates on each step, said R Girija Kumari, the teams coach. India to play first match on Friday; participation ticket to 26 World Cup The state government had a challenging task at hand as only a few days were left for the event. We went through anxious moments from last Thursday, starting with the non-issuance of visa for the travel originally scheduled for Monday, Girija, who is the secretary of the Cerebral Palsy Sports Association of Kerala, said. Then came the CMOs intervention. On Tuesday afternoon, we received information that visas would be issued. The next morning, however, we were in for a rude shock as the UKs Home Office sent a letter rejecting our visit visa applications. The children broke into tears and we had a tough time consoling them. Barely two hours later, we received a communication from the UK Visas and Immigration Office that six-month visit visas have been approved, she said. The team will fly to the UK on Thursday. The team members are Riya Koshy from Alappuzha, Arya S Nayan from Thiruvananthapuram, and Niya Fathima, Avanthika Vinod and Vrajasurya from Kozhikode. Meanwhile, the IFCPF took a favourable position by postponing the Indian teams match following talks with CPSFI president Rajesh Thomar and general secretary Kavitha Suresh, who are in the UK. The first match, earlier scheduled for Tuesday, has been slated for Friday. The second match is on Saturday. Participation in the event will help the Indian team get an entry to the 2026 IFCPF World Cup. Non-participation would have resulted in a two-year ban. On Tuesday, Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor had posted the TNIE report on X, seeking the intervention of MEA.