Meanwhile, The Gambia was among countries set to compete in the Commonwealth Youth Games in Trinidad and Tobago.
The Gambian teams comprising beach volleyball and athletic returned home on Saturday after being left stranded in Dakar for their visa application process.
"The Gambia National Olympic Committee and Commonwealth Games Association regret to inform the public that due to systematic failure in the visa application processes, the Gambian delegation to the 7th Commonwealth Youth Games was cancelled on Saturday 5th August 2023," Madam Allen said in a statement yesterday.
She added that the GNOC and the Commonwealth Games Association (CGA) commenced the visa application process to the United Kingdom for athletes, beach volleyball and para-athletes on 20th June 2023, based on instructions received from the CGF Organising Committee, adding that during the application process, it was confirmed that the visas will be completed within 5 to 15 days.
She added that after 10 days of tracking, the GNOC/CGA contacted the President of CGF of Africa to inform her about the delay in receiving the passports and that was when the passports were released. She added that by the time the passports arrived, the scheduled flight was missed.
Madam Allen explained that the GNOC/CGA tried rebooking from London but were advised that there was only one weekly flight to Trinidad. She noted that this was when they resorted to going via Air France from Dakar to Panama and Trinidad.
“With Air France, the delegation could have traveled without a transit visa but with an attestation. The CGF Organising Committee provided that attestation and Air France gave clearance that they would be allowed to travel,” she added.
“A new booking was made two days after the passports were received and they left for Dakar to take their flight from Dakar with Air France to travel via Panama. At the check-in, air France requested for another attestation for Panama. The CGF Organising Committee provided that attestation from Copa American Airline and by the time the attestation arrived they missed the Flight to Paris.”
The GNOC boss revealed that the delegation spent two days in a hotel to wait for the next available flight, noting that the Copa American Airline sent an email giving clearance to Air France, confirming that the Immigration Department of Panama had cleared the delegation to travel to Trinidad via Panama.
Meanwhile, she added that the GNOC alerted the NOC of Panama who confirmed that its Immigration Department had given clearance to the Air France office in Dakar for the delegation to travel.
“On departure date (Saturday 5th August), the delegation returned to the airport and were denied boarding the flight by Air France because Panama should have written to them directly, refusing to read the communication that was sent and treating the delegation in a very degrading and humiliating manner,” President Allen explained.
According to her, at this point, the GNOC decided that the delegation return home, adding that it is regrettable that Gambian athletes go through such problems when they travel for sports competitions due to visa application processes, saying that these Commonwealth Games have presented a clear example of the dilemma athletes face.
“Moreover, these Games were for U-18 athletes who trained very hard, only for their hopes to be dashed.”
She on behalf of the GNOC/CGA apologised to the athletes and their parents for the cancellation of their travel to Trinidad, noting that this was the best decision taken, because competitions had already started and there was no point continuing on their journey.
