Iran Cool to Shuttlecock Diplomacy
By Kim Se-jeong
Staff Reporter
Badminton just lost its chance to gain an honorable nickname: shuttlecock diplomacy.
A U.S. women's team was to travel to Iran to take part in a badminton tournament, but was refused by the country at the last moment.
It was Feb. 2 when the news broke out that the team was to travel to Teheran to take part in the Iran Fajr International Badminton Tournament, which began last Friday.
The Associated Press, quoting U.S. officials, reported that the Iranian Badminton Federation invited the U.S. team - eight female players and four coaches and managers.
However, two days later, the Iranian Foreign Ministry announced the visas couldn't be issued for the group, citing the "time-consuming process" of handing such applications.
"They will not participate in the competition," Foreign Ministry spokesman Hassan Qashqavi said during a news conference, according to the Washington Post Foreign News Service.
U.S. State Department Spokesman Robert A. Wood responded Wednesday, saying, "This is a very unfortunate situation.
"Then the Iranians unclench that fist, there will be a hand waiting to greet them. We are very interested in trying to improve relations between the American people and the Iranian people, and this is not a good step forward in terms of trying to promote people-to-people exchanges."
Iranian Ambassador to Korea Mohammad Reza Bakhtiari echoed the Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman; merely saying issuing visas is a time-consuming process.
However, he welcomed the effort, saying, "It would be helpful" in thawing the intensity built up between Teheran and Washington. However, the U.S. shouldn't exaggerate what a sport can do, he said, because it will take "a grass-root change" from the U.S. side to see substantial change in the relationship.
"It takes a strategic change in stance from hostile policy to whatever Obama is promising," the ambassador said. And Iran will closely watch what the new administration will do.
Historically, cultural activities have been served as diplomatic tactics in erecting torn diplomatic relations to normality.
Former U.S. President Richard Nixon utilized ping-pong diplomacy before his historic visit to China in the 1970s. The Panda is a standardized object of diplomacy for China, as it has presented rare pandas to the United States, France, Britain, Mexico, Spain, Germany and Taiwan.
Last year, the New York Philharmonic gave a performance in Pyongyang, the first attempt of its kind by the United States to normalize relations with North Korea.
No iconic diplomatic attempt has yet taken place between the North and South except for civilian trips to Mt. Geumgang in the North and family reunions. But that all came to an end.