No visa forces Lakshya Sen to pull out of Canada Open

BENGALURU: Indian badminton ace Lakshya Sen's plans to defend his title at this week's Canada Open, a BWF World Tour Super 500 tournament, came to a nought because his application for a visa got stuck at the High Commission of Canada in New Delhi.
The delay forced Lakshya, who was hoping to get some valuable match practice ahead of the Paris Olympics, to pull out of the tournament now on in Calgary.This will also result in him dropping valuable ranking points, which could even affect his seeding when the draw for the Group Stages of the Olympics - which considers the rankings as on July 9 - is held at the BWF headquarters in Kuala Lumpur on July 12.
"It was an important tournament for Lakshya (world No. 14) who was seeded fourth (at Canada Open). But despite the best efforts for 10 days from the Union sports ministry and Sports Authority of India (SAI) officials, Lakshya didn't get the Canadian visa that would have helped him to defend his title. He was supposed to leave from here last Friday. Now the revised plans will see him travel to Marseille where he will train till the start of the Olympics," sources close to the player told TOI.
"He already has a US visa and despite that his Canadian visa was not processed on time. Denmark's World No. 4 Anders Antonsen is the top seed in Canada ahead of Japan's Kodai Naraoka (world No. 6) and Kenta Nishimoto (world No. 10).
Along with Lakshya, World No. 35 Kiran George and Lakshya's father DK Sen, who was set to accompany the duo as coach, also had to cancel their trips as the visas didn't arrive.
Meanwhile, another set of players including Priyanshu Rajawat who had applied from the USA after competing in the US Open got their visas.
After being stranded, Lakshya is now training here this week and is scheduled to leave for Marseille for a training camp before checking into the Games Village.
"We are now trying to get back the passport from the consulate so that he can leave for Marseille on time," they added.