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Iran Rejects Visas for US Badminton Players
"We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope" said Martin Luther King Jr. The United States of America (USA) female badminton team must not lose hope at having another opportunity to play with Iran.
USA badminton team was very disappointed that their visas were rejected by Iran. Many US players want to know why did this happen? Especially since the Iranian Badminton Federation did invite the USA badminton team to the tournament. The Iranian Badminton Federation did seem sincere and initially interested in having America compete in one of their tournaments.
USA women badminton team will not be playing in Iran. They weren't able to travel from Dubai to Tehren because Iran did not issue visas to members of the team in time for them to compete. The US women badminton team was supposed to compete on the Tajr International Badminton Tournament that was from February 5 to the 8th.
They were invited to the tournament by the Iranian Badminton Federation. Iran said that the reason this happened is because of a lack of enough time to process the visa applications. But, many people are questioning this excuse that was used by Iran's Foreign Ministry. US Badminton Team supplied all the necessary paperwork in time so they had everything needed to issue the visas. However, they still rejected the USA visas.
A possible reason for Iran rejecting the US badminton team visas are because of the strained relationship between Iran and USA. The USA and Iran team isn't on speaking terms with each other. United States are unhappy with Iran's plan to develop a nuclear program. They see Iran's nuclear program as a serious threat. However, Iran insists that their nuclear program is only for peaceful energy production purposes.
US is trying to persuade Iran to stop their nuclear program. Hillary Clinton the secretary of state is interested in speaking with Iran so that they can discuss these serious issues. Even other countries such as Germany want Iran & US to resolve these issues. German chancellor Gerhard Schroeder on February 21, 2009 called for talks between US & Iran. Many Americans do realize that these issues between USA and Iran are the real reason why Iran rejected the USA badminton's team visas.
USA's female badminton team hopes all these issues will be resolved so that they can compete in badminton competitions in Iran in the future. USA's nine athlete team were very disappointed about not being able to compete in the world class tournament in Iran. The US players were sad about the decision because they were excited about the upcoming tournament.
They wanted to experience the Iran culture. For example they wanted to try some of the Iran's good food such as the kebabs that are popular there. It looks like now that US badminton players will just have to wait and jump on the next opportunity that presents itself for playing in Iran.
The US Badminton Team did have their visas rejected. However, that may be changing in the future. The Obama administration is calling for more exchanges between USA and Iran. These exchanges that Obama is calling for include sports and educational exchange programs. The State department through the Sports United Program has already had the Iranian national teams for basketball, water polo, weightlifting, and table tennis here in America to compete.
Therefore the future does look for bright for US female badminton team in a possible opportunity to compete against Iran. The US government realizes the importance of communicating and being involved in athletic communications with Iran.
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