More woes for SVG’s rugby players

St Vincent and the Grenadines senior men’s rugby team, which intended to travel to the USA last Thursday, was unable to do so.

The Vincentians’ hopes were heightened last Wednesday, when on their second visit to the United States Embassy in Barbados, they were granted the necessary visas, paving the way for them to be part of the North America and Caribbean Rugby Association (NACRA) Sevens tournament.{{more}}

However, an advisory the US State Department said Friday it was forced to suspend the issuance of US passports and visas at its overseas diplomatic missions, due to a glitch that has hit one of its computer databases.

In a statement posted to its travel.state.gov website, the department announced that a hardware failure in its Consular Consolidated Database has left overseas embassies and consulates unable to print visas, regular passports and other travel documents.

The statement added that applicants, who submitted online applications for passports and visas on or after June 9, were the ones likely to experience delays in the processing.

Unfortunately, the St Vincent and Grenadines men’s rugby team fell victim to the glitch.

In May, the Vincentians were denied the visas; however, with the assistance of the US Olympic Committee Barbados, NACRA, World Rugby, USA Rugby, Ministry of Sports and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, more compelling evidence was presented.

The Vincentians were pooled with Mexico, USA, Jamaica and Barbados for play last Saturday in their first set of matches in the preliminary round.

The St Vincent and the Grenadines team included Andrew Phillips (Captain), Benson Nanton, Aniso Lewis, Kimran Barnum, Gilan Comas, Godfrey Matthews, Dellon Durant, Leonard Matthews, Kenmore Horne, Dugal James, Shane Samuel and Leon McKenzie.