Dolapo Gaji, landed on the Piton to everyone’s surprise at the end of autumn and exciting on the floors since, is obliged to leave French territory on March 3. A situation that his new club intends to circumvent, confirmed the president Xavier Alric.
From rough diamond to shooting star? Dolapo Gaji continues to enliven the season of Ruthenian basketball players, 8th in their championship for their return to National 3 and who face the dolphin Ail de Rousset tomorrow evening (8 p.m.) at the Amphitheatre. Except that after having made the crowds rise, especially during his very first match at the beginning of December with 21 points scored (best total of the match) and a charmed public, the 22-year-old Nigerian could, despite himself, play a bad trick. .
“Visa error”
Indeed, having arrived in France with a tourist visa, his presence on French soil will no longer be possible beyond March 3. “Yes, there is an error on his visa. Dolapo is under an OQTF (obligation to leave French territory, editor’s note) issued by the prefecture of Aveyron, confirms the president of the RBA, Xavier Alric. We is in the process of seeing with the town hall, the deputy Mazars, to do everything we can to avoid his return to Nigeria.”
The club has already found him a job in the field of industrial cleaning. But his current authorization to stay in France, already renewed twice, does not allow anyone within 1.96m to work. “For that he has to return to Nigeria and apply for new papers, Alric explains. At the prefecture, we are told that it will only take 15 days. But with the consulate, we don’t really know.”
“It would be a shame if we lost him”
Result: the end of the season should take place without him. “It would be a shame if we lost him”, plague Xavier Alric. Everyone appreciates him at the club, for his basketball but also his behavior. He’s invested a lot.”
Ironically, after being forced to sideline Slovenian pivot Davor Pecovnik because, in National 3, clubs can only field two foreigners and not three (with British captain Adam Williams), the RBA should thus find themselves no longer with a surplus but a deficit of foreigners, Pecovnik having slammed the door only a few days ago.
