Daily Maverick
US visa backlogs could have cut the rope on Climbing South Africa youngsters’ championship ambitions. Now they face an uphill battle to get to the world youth championships.
The International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC) Youth World Championships is set to take place in Dallas Texas from 22 to 31 August 2022.
Climbing South Africa has selected six groups of girls and boys to participate, including under-15, under-17 and under-19 members. But team South Africa might miss the tournament owing to the continued backlog in visa processing at the US embassy offices in South Africa.
It would be the third year in a row that the South African youth team was unable to compete.
“Unfortunately, because of Covid, the guys missed out in the previous two years – 2020 and 2021 – so we are very desperate for the kids to compete [this year],” said George Stainton, South African National Climbing Federation secretary-general and an IFSC board member.
“[The struggle is] to get a visa appointment. Even if you apply for an expedited visa appointment, you can’t get it. The first appointment date was scheduled for some time in February or March 2023.”
Climbing South Africa team battling to scale US visa wa… (dailymaverick.co.za)
