Wrestling trials for Asian Games to be held in Delhi on July 22 and 23
The ad-hoc committee appointed by the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) to govern wrestling on Wednesday decided to hold the much-awaited wrestling trials for the Asian Games on July 22 and 23. The committee, however, is yet to decide whether any of the six wrestlers who protested against outgoing Wrestling Federation of India president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh should be exempted from trial. The IOA had requested the OCA (Olympic Council of Asia) to extend the date beyond July 22. The OCA rejected this demand. The ad hoc committee then met in New Delhi and decided that the men’s Greco-Roman and women’s trials would be held on July 22 and the selection of the freestyle team would be held the next day.
The ad-hoc committee will conduct trials for 18 Olympic weight categories. There will be trials for six spots each in all three formats (freestyle for men and Greco-Roman and freestyle for women). Ad-hoc committee chief Bhupender Singh Bajwa told ‘PTI-Bhasha’, “We have decided to conduct the trials on July 22 and 23 at Kedar Jadhav Hall of Indira Gandhi Stadium.” First we will invite Greco-Roman and female wrestlers and then male freestyle wrestlers. We want our U-20 wrestlers to also challenge in the Asian Games trials. They will return to India on July 21 and hence we want to give them a chance to submit their claim as well. We have not taken any decision on this yet.
India’s Under-15 and Under-20 teams are in Jordan’s capital Amman to participate in the Asian Championship. Sources close to the ad-hoc panel claimed that the committee may exempt current Olympic and World Championship medalists from trials. “Don’t be surprised if some wrestlers are given exemption. The committee is looking to exempt Olympic and World Championship medalists. If the decision is approved, Bajrang Punia (65kg) and Ravi Dahiya (57kg) will get direct entry as Olympic medalists. Similarly, Vinesh (53kg) is currently a World Championship medalist.” The decision, however, will come as a disappointment to budding wrestlers. Sujit is the reigning U-23 Asian champion in the 65kg category and Aman Sehrawat has proved himself in the 57kg category in the absence of Ravi Dahiya. Ravi had not been able to compete recently due to injury.
The country’s first U-20 world champion, Anhalt Panghal, is also a promising future in the 53kg category. Vinesh has been doing consistently well in this category ahead of the Tokyo Olympics. Sujit’s father and coach Dayanand Kalakal, however, is not happy with the Olympic and world championship medalist being given preference. “It would be a grave injustice to the future talents. Where do we go if they don’t allow young wrestlers to compete? The government is there to set things right. Why is she allowing such things to happen.” He fumed, “They are saying there are old precedents of sending wrestlers without trial, but if some wrong things have happened in the past, why not rectify it now. is done? They are ending the career of these young wrestlers before a proper start.” Kalakal said, “These young wrestlers are dreaming of competing in the Asian Games.
Why are these protesting wrestlers not competing in the trials? It means Netaji (outgoing WFI chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh) was right. He said that the protest against him was started only to avoid the trial. Six wrestlers (Vinesh Phogat, Bajrang Punia, Sakshi Malik, Sangeeta Phogat, Satyavrat Kadian and Jitendra Kinha) who were involved in the protest requested the IOA It was that he should be given time till August 10 to prepare for the trial. He had said that he was not in good physical and mental condition due to his months-long ordeal against Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh. Jitendra and Sangeeta are in Bishkek for training.
Sakshi and her husband Qadian are in the US for training. The panel had earlier proposed that the trials would be conducted in two phases where six wrestlers would be asked to compete against the winners of the preliminary trials to secure their places for the Asian Games. The decision was criticized and many termed it as ‘biased’ and ‘unfair’. The ad hoc panel will meet again on Friday to decide the final criteria. Committee member Coach Gyan Singh said, “Tomorrow the committee members will meet the Sports Minister and the IOA President. We want to take his advice. It is also being considered that the names of six protesting wrestlers can also be sent as reserves. They may be asked to compete against each other and the best wrestler may be selected for the Asian Games, but nothing is decided as of now.
