Jimmy White withdraws from China Open

Sarah Mount wrote:I am still looking into the situation but from what I can gather at present, this is the situation:

Jimmy was working in China a couple of weeks ago at an exhibition event. When he applied for his visa for this work, he explained that he needed a visa for this earlier event and for the China Open. This was granted and he went to China as planned. He has since been in Thailand and was due to fly from Thailand to China in time for his match on Monday. He went to the airport in Bangkok to board his flight to China and was told there was a problem with his visa and he was not allowed onto his flight to China. As you can imagine, Jimmy is devastated and more than a little annoyed! After such a great season this is a terrible way for it to end for him. Please be assured that Jimmy was 100% intending on playing in the China Open and no-one is more disappointed than him that he will not be able to do that.

That is as much as I know at the moment until I speak with the company that issued the visa tomorrow during their opening hours.

burocracy rubbish and you have my blessing to relay that message with a big fat bucking idiots in front of it to the company that issued the visa on behalf of me.

unbelievable

Wild wrote:

Sarah Mount wrote:I am still looking into the situation but from what I can gather at present, this is the situation:

Jimmy was working in China a couple of weeks ago at an exhibition event. When he applied for his visa for this work, he explained that he needed a visa for this earlier event and for the China Open. This was granted and he went to China as planned. He has since been in Thailand and was due to fly from Thailand to China in time for his match on Monday. He went to the airport in Bangkok to board his flight to China and was told there was a problem with his visa and he was not allowed onto his flight to China. As you can imagine, Jimmy is devastated and more than a little annoyed! After such a great season this is a terrible way for it to end for him. Please be assured that Jimmy was 100% intending on playing in the China Open and no-one is more disappointed than him that he will not be able to do that.

That is as much as I know at the moment until I speak with the company that issued the visa tomorrow during their opening hours.

burocracy rubbish and you have my blessing to relay that message with a big fat bucking idiots in front of it to the company that issued the visa on behalf of me.

unbelievable

wild/GJ - devastated Jimmy fans

That's bad luck for Jimmy.

Hey, anybody got any news of whether Neil Robertson has made it to China yet?

SnookerFan wrote:That's bad luck for Jimmy.

Hey, anybody got any news of whether Neil Robertson has made it to China yet?

just heard some EXCLUSIVE Robbo news, stayed tuned will post up soon.....................

Smart wrote:

SnookerFan wrote:That's bad luck for Jimmy.

Hey, anybody got any news of whether Neil Robertson has made it to China yet?

just heard some EXCLUSIVE Robbo news, stayed tuned will post up soon.....................

I will sit and stare at the screen until it appears.

SnookerFan wrote:

Smart wrote:

SnookerFan wrote:That's bad luck for Jimmy.

Hey, anybody got any news of whether Neil Robertson has made it to China yet?

just heard some EXCLUSIVE Robbo news, stayed tuned will post up soon.....................

I will sit and stare at the screen until it appears.

OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE

As you are aware, Jimmy White was forced to pull out of the China Open due to a problem with his VISA.

Jimmy attended a recent Snooker Fayre in China to help promote snooker on the BCE stand. As a result of his work for BCE, they arranged a one-month VISA for him, on his behalf. Jimmy then travelled to Thailand to continue to promote snooker by taking part in a number of exhibitions. As he went to board his flight from Thailand to China, it became apparent that his VISA, despite being valid for one-month, was only valid for one visit therefore rendering it invaild for his return to China. World Snooker and their colleagues in China did their best to overcome the VISA issue but were unfortunately unsuccessful due to it being a weekend. Jimmy is grateful for World Snooker's assistance and would like to thank those who attempted to solve the problem.

Jimmy takes full responsibility for the error admitting that he should have checked that the VISA was a multi-visit VISA. He is devastated to be missing out on the opportunity to play in this great event in front of the passionate Chinese fans. Jimmy would like to express his sincere apologies to everyone involved for his withdrawal and we reiterate that everything possible was done to prevent this.

Paul Mount, Managing Director of On Q Promotions commented "Our clients, which include Jimmy White, choose which services they want us to provide for them, from our array of services, and which ones they prefer to do themselves. Several of our players prefer arranging their own travel and associated documentation, especially when they travel frequently and need regular access to their passport. For these clients we merely check with them before events that they are covered and on the odd occasion where we identify an issue we generally take over and sort things out very quickly." He continued "On this occasion we were not involved in Jimmy's travel arrangements and are devastated for Jimmy and the Chinese fans especially as Jimmy has worked so hard this year to rediscover his form and in recent weeks has been striking the ball as well as he ever has. It is not an ideal end to the season for Jimmy but it has provided him with additional motivation to continue working hard so that he starts next season well. He will be especially keen to qualify for the Chinese events."

It's a shame but I hope this is an eye-opener for everyone else on tour, as the game becomes more and more global we're going to get more issues like this so it's the players' responsibility now to make extra, extra sure they get these essentials sorted out

ferret on TSF

'Must be some favoritism going on then because I have just heard that Ronnie O'Sullivan got to China but also had visa problem and he was held at customs, The CBSA sorted Ronnie's Visa problems out and he was granted access to China a few hours later.
I'm quite sure Ron would of liked to have been rejected

Black2white wrote:ferret on TSF

'Must be some favoritism going on then because I have just heard that Ronnie O'Sullivan got to China but also had visa problem and he was held at customs, The CBSA sorted Ronnie's Visa problems out and he was granted access to China a few hours later.
I'm quite sure Ron would of liked to have been rejected

I will add on this thread my response on TSF to the quote above:

I heard about this but do not know anymore information so cannot comment on Ronnie's situation but, I do know that despite the best efforts of a number of people, the fact that it was a Sunday caused even more problems for Jimmy and ultimately effected the opportunity to resolve the VISA issue.

actually I find it shameful if such things like visa issues can't be solved because it's sunday wtf

Black2white wrote:actually I find it shameful if such things like visa issues can't be solved because it's Sunday wtf

nothing would surprise me about bureaucracy red tape ....

it just needs a complerte overhaul its time and money wasting excercise.

Sarah Mount wrote:I am still looking into the situation but from what I can gather at present, this is the situation:

Jimmy was working in China a couple of weeks ago at an exhibition event. When he applied for his visa for this work, he explained that he needed a visa for this earlier event and for the China Open. This was granted and he went to China as planned. He has since been in Thailand and was due to fly from Thailand to China in time for his match on Monday. He went to the airport in Bangkok to board his flight to China and was told there was a problem with his visa and he was not allowed onto his flight to China. As you can imagine, Jimmy is devastated and more than a little annoyed! After such a great season this is a terrible way for it to end for him. Please be assured that Jimmy was 100% intending on playing in the China Open and no-one is more disappointed than him that he will not be able to do that.




That is as much as I know at the moment until I speak with the company that issued the visa tomorrow during their opening hours.

Thanks for this. The idea of Jimmy not wanting to play is ridiculous.

Jimmy Qualified for the event winning 3 matches Tian Pengfei did not.

so wasent there a case to tell Tian if Jimmy White can get in to china by Wednesday 12.30pm BST to play Mark Selby your no longer needed thank you but no thanks.

horrible thing to say but as my boyhood idol in a way im glad jimmy not turning up only to be embarrased again or if he does win winning in dribs and drabs not pleasent viewing when you think how he was in his prime and what he renowned for