The Sri Lankan team has missed out on taking part in the World Junior Chess Championships in Italy after the Italian embassy here denied the young players appointment for visa interviews, a newspaper reported on Thursday.
The affected players included top-ranked national champion Susal de Silva, who is aspiring to become the country’s first Grand Master, The Island reported.
The daily said that requests from the Chess Federation of Sri Lanka, the Sports Ministry and the Foreign Affairs Ministry failed to get appointments for the players.
Besides prodigy de Silva, Nabil Nazar and Desandi Gamage were supposed to compete at the FIDE World Junior (U-20) Chess Championship in Sardinia, Italy, from October 11 to 23.
The Chess Federation of Sri Lanka on September 19 forwarded the required documents to obtain visas following the receipt of invitations from the sport’s world governing body, the report said.
One of the parents speaking to The Island said that they were ill-treated by the embassy officials when they visited the office in Colombo.
