Saturday September 29, 2007
No visa, so Cybergamers miss out on World Games
By CHONG JINN XIUNG
KUALA LUMPUR: The hopes of four Malaysian cybergamers, who qualified to participate in an international games challenge in Seattle, were dashed when the US Embassy here refused to grant them visas.
Medical student Rinie Ramli, 20, junior executive Sophian Shahirul, 25, pro-gamer Yan Meng Choon, 21, and student Gerard Anand, 21, have had to forfeit their spots in their respective games for the World Cyber Games (WCG) 2007 grand final, which takes place on Oct 3.
Lisa Chong, brand communications manager of In2 Marketing & Consulting Sdn Bhd, the organiser for the local leg of the WCG competition, said the embassy’s decision to reject the visa applications was disappointing.
“We provided all our participants with official documents informing the embassy that they had been invited to participate in the competition,” she said. “And I believe that all US embassies have been informed of the tournament as well.”
Chong said she could not believe the reasons cited by the US Embassy here for rejecting the visas.
“Rinie was denied a visa because he is studying medicine in Indonesia,” she said. “That’s ridiculous.”
Sophian was denied a visa because he was in the low-income bracket. “I was also told that I did not hold sufficient property in this country,” said Sophian.
“This year’s competition meant a lot to me because I missed out last year when I fell ill,” Sophian said. He was to compete in the Need for Speed: Carbon game.
“To be denied at the last moment is simply heartbreaking,” he added.
Gerard was the only member of his fiveman Counter-Strike team to be denied a visa. The team is now hurriedly looking for a replacement player.
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