(Xinhua)
Updated: 2007-08-10 09:29

The Panama government is working on the United States embassy to get visas for members of the national basketball team who were refused visas to fly to the Pre-Olympic Tournament on August 22 in the U.S. city of Las Vegas, the nation's foreign minister said on Thursday.

The U.S. consulate formally refused seven players and the coach visas, saying they did not fulfill the financial solvency criterion.

The minister, Samuel Lewis Navarro, told a press conference that, "they have the government's full support in seeking to complete the paperwork before the tournament".

"Our work is to guarantee them full support and here we are fulfilling this mission. We can always fly our flag high, as we have done on several occasions,"

He said there was good will in the consulate and at the embassy for everything to be resolved in a positive way.

The competition runs from August 22 to September 2 and awards two places in the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.

Panama is in Group A of the contest alongside Uruguay, Puerto Rico, Mexico and Argentina, and the team had planned to travel on August 19.

The consulate denied visas to players Maximiliano Gomez, Antonio Garcia, Joel Munoz, Eduardo Isaac, Reyjavick Degracia and Amir Alvarado; and coach Vicente Duncan.