Visa problems deny Siddikur

Bangladesh golfer Siddikur Rahman will not be able to take part in the Lyoness Open in Austria, thanks to a failure to acquire a visa in time.

The two-time Asian Tour winner, who was eager to take part in this one-million-euro event beginning on Thursday to solidify his Olympic chances following a second-place finish in the Mauritius Open last month, said he had to cancel his ticket as he could not acquire the visa in time.

"I had bought the ticket for Sunday night on the assurance that I would get the visa by midday. But since I was informed that the visa procedure has not been completed, I had to cancel the ticket because even if I get a visa tomorrow [Monday], I won't be able to get to Austria and have practice before the start of the tournament. I thought it wasn't worth taking part in such a tournament without any practice," Siddikur told The Daily Star over phone last night.

Since there is no embassy of Austria in Bangladesh, the golfer had applied for a Shenzhen Visa through the French embassy.

Siddikur informed that he would leave for Thailand on June 9 for the Queen's Cup, beginning on June 16. He will then fly straight to Japan to participate in an event of the Japan Tour.

The ace golfer, who misses quite a few tour events each year due to the very reason of not getting visa on time, hoped the government could, through its own mechanism, help in this regard so that he could fly the national flag all over the world.