Venezuelan national basketball team can’t get into Canada: report

Later this week, the Canadian men’s national basketball team is supposed to play at home in Edmonton in a two-game set.

But via Venezuelan journalist Luis Miguel Núñez, it appears one of Canada’s opponents is having some trouble flying north.

Canada is hosting Venezuela and Panama later this week in a series of 2023 FIBA World Cup qualifiers, on Thursday and Saturday, respectively.

“The National Basketball Team is still in Caracas and the trip to Canada is becoming more and more complicated,” Núñez wrote in a tweet on Monday night. “Canada has not approved the visas that must be issued by the Canadian embassy in Bogotá.”

La Selección Nacional de Baloncesto sigue en Caracas y el viaje para Canadá cada vez está más complicado: Canadá no ha aprobado las visas que deben ser emitidas por la embajada de Canadá en Bogotá.

— Luis Miguel Núñez (@lmnunez_) November 8, 2022

Núñez added on Monday the players were expected to leave on Tuesday but has not yet updated if they have changed their flight plans due to visa issues. The reason for the visas not being approved is not yet clear.

If they do end up playing, Canada’s putting its “winter roster” on the floor, which means no NBA players (or Raptors/Canada head coach Nick Nurse) will be in attendance.

Tickets are available for both games, starting at $40 per game.

The Twitter thread is available in full below, via the Google Translate feature on Twitter:

The National Basketball Team is still in Caracas and the trip to Canada is becoming more and more complicated: Canada has not approved the visas that must be issued by the Canadian embassy in Bogotá.

The tickets were purchased to leave Monday at noon from the concentration hotel in Caracas (Meliá) and take a flight on Monday afternoon to Panama, from Panama to Toronto and from Toronto to Edmonton. Those tickets were changed for this Tuesday, but there are still no Canadian visas.

Leaving on Tuesday, they arrive in Edmonton on Wednesday morning. If they leave later (Wednesday) they would arrive in Edmonton (the city where the game will take place) on the same day, Thursday.

Marcos Arocha is in Bogotá representing the FVB. No replies since last week. Some Venezuelan players have an American residence (it helps with the Canadian process) and a European passport (it also makes things easier). The rest depends entirely on the management of the Venezuelan sports entity and Canadian foreigners.

Canada Basketball has not yet replied to a request for comment.

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