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Visa trouble stopped Swedish Juniors from playing in Sochi
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20 May 2010 at 23:57 | Published by: Hans | Views: 9784 | News search ![](img/forum/magnifier.png)
The Swedish Junior Team that was on its way to play the Nations Cup in Sochi received an unpleasant surprise when trying to board the plane from Vienna to Sochi. They were left not being able to board the same plane as the German and Austrian squads due to incomplete Visas for Russia.
The Swedish Head of the Juniors Team Erik Gustavsson was not able to join the team in person and tells Minigolfnews that he don’t know exactly why this was happening and he just feels it’s a shame for the Team not being able to compete.
The team that was on its way to Sochi was Frida Elmdahl, Filip Johansson, Oskar Kjellberg and Eirik Seljelid.
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![](../img/bg/0clear.gif) Comments (15)![](../img/bg/0clear.gif)
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AS (André Silva) |
24 May 2010 at 15:03 | Well Pasi, if that was the problem, it happens to be easy for other countries to solve in August. Just get the visas in time! |
HansIII (Pasi Aho) |
24 May 2010 at 07:10 | The Swedes must explain that, since it is their internal issue. I don't know all the details. As far as I understood - I point out once more, this is only my picture of the situation - they did not have any visas in their passports. What they had was a letter which looked like an invitation from a travel agency in Sochi for obtaining quick visas, but I am not sure if this is exactly correct. Also the Austrian Airlines personnel and the officials at the airport did not recognize this paper, but it was not a visa and that is why they were not allowed to board the plane. |
JJM (John Mittler) |
23 May 2010 at 21:10 | Would be nice to hear what exactly was the problem with the visas. So others will know in August to avoid the same mistake. |
HansIII (Pasi Aho) |
23 May 2010 at 14:45 | Erik,
no hard feelings, but I believe that WMF has in this case supported with informations, since this is also for us the first time we are doing this. I have not counted the phone calls and e-mails I have had in this issue after we sent out an info letter earlier in the spring. The team leaders of Germany, Austria and Switzerland have confirmed to me that it was a heck of the job, but now when they saw what happened with Sweden they are happy to have done all this work. Giving information and answering questions are the only things WMF can do, we can't take care of national visa application processes even if we wanted.
We also offer special flight prices in cooperation with the official carrier Austrian Airlines. It still is not cheap, but cheaper and easier especially for Central Europeans than flying via Moscow.
The official registrations for YWC have not been finished, but it gladly looks like we are going to have only one two nations (GBR and POR) and some 10-15 players less than last year in Waldshut. This is inofficial though at the moment. |
Tiek (Erik Tiekstra) |
23 May 2010 at 12:02 | @JJM getting a Visa or not is something completely different then having a visa which seemed to be invalid during the trip. Besides that this time it is one of the favorites. If I remember well we did have a newsstory about Nigeria, or? |
Tiek (Erik Tiekstra) |
23 May 2010 at 11:59 | @Pasi
I never told it was Russias mistake. But because there are such things needed as visa etc. mistakes are easily made. That is why I see more problems coming up in august. I think it could be a good thing if the WMF/EMF could give a supporting roll in this. Specially because this is the first time for most countries.
As of other disadvantages, I name reachability, costs, etc. I don't know how many countries are competing in august, but I think a lot of the smaller countries will not be able to come. I like the idea of playing in Russia, a big step for minigolf in Europe an Russia... But there are also negative sides. |
AS (André Silva) |
22 May 2010 at 00:54 | It's not often we have the chance to see a Swedish team down to earth... |
House (Vincent Huus) |
21 May 2010 at 23:20 | I feel sorry for You Sweden. It must have been awful to get ready to board the plane to Russia, but never actual be allowed to board it.
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JJM (John Mittler) |
21 May 2010 at 19:11 | Well the Nigerian team didn't get visas to Odense 2009 either, but that didn't spark so much interest and discussion at our website... |
Hans (Hans Bergström) |
21 May 2010 at 09:08 | About 90 countries demands VISA from Sweden citizens so this is not that strange or uncommon. One of the toughest VISA authorities nowadays is actually the US. There you can also be send home at arrival even if you have a valid VISA if the immigrant officer thinks there is something suspicious about you as a person. So I guess if we should grow out of Europe as a sport for real we need to be able to handle VISA request. | ![](../img/bg/0clear.gif) Add comment | To add comments, you need to log in.
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Chris Harding wins the first ever Scottish Open
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20 May 2010 at 23:44 | views: 7946 | Comments: 1
![](../img/bg/0clear.gif) BMGA Press Release:
Supplied by Richard Gottfried
Birmingham’s Chris Harding became the first-ever Scottish Minigolf Open Champion as he beat 28 competitors to take the title at the Pirate Island Adventure Golf course at Codonas Beach Aberdeen on Sunday 16th ...
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18 May 2010 at 18:12 | views: 8335 | Comments: 0
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16 May 2010 at 18:32 | views: 10047 | Comments: 2
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15 May 2010 at 16:05 | views: 8572 | Comments: 10
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