Could the Novak Djokovic visa mess have been avoided? | In Focus

The top-ranked tennis player in the world and arguably one of the all-time greats Novak Djokovic was held for four days in a detention centre in Australia, apparently because his unvaccinated status rendered his entry visa invalid. The showdown between the Australian federal agencies and Novak Djokovic was today settled in court, with a Federal Circuit Court judge ruling in Djokovic’s favour. It quashed the cancellation of Djokovic’s visa and ordered his immediate release from detention.

While details of the events at the airport leading to Djokovic’s detention are still emerging, the whole episode has raised questions about vaccination, sport, and how rules are imposed, or not imposed. We don’t know, for instance, why Australia did not inform Djokovic earlier that his ‘medical exemption’ was not valid or that it was not enough to guarantee him entry into Australia. Why wait until he was already on Australian soil? And what about the effect of all this on his preparations for the Australian Open, assuming he gets to play it?

We discuss all these questions in detail in this episode.

Guest: Rakesh Rao, Deputy Editor (Sports) at The Hindu.

Host: G. Sampath, Social Affairs Editor, The Hindu

Edited by Reenu Cyriac

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