CHENNAI: Selection trials to pick the national team for the upcoming World Championships may witness withdrawal from quite a few wrestlers raising a question over the ad-hoc committee's decision to hold back-to-back competitions, especially with two big-ticket events lined up.
The Worlds trials are scheduled on August 25 and 26. The trials for the Greco-Roman wrestlers along with women's grapplers will be held on Day 1 while the men's freestyle competition will be held the next day. The Worlds is slated from September 16 to 24 in Belgrade, Serbia. The wrestling events at the Asian Games will be held from October 4 to 7 in Hangzhou, China. Notably, the Worlds is also the first qualifier for the 2024 Paris Olympics.
While it is confirmed that Bajrang Punia and Deepak Punia will not compete at the trials, it is learnt that the ad-hoc panel has received a similar request from three Greco-Roman wrestlers. "Three Greco-Roman wrestlers want to skip the trials. They instead wanted to go overseas directly from Romania to prepare for the Asian Games. They wrote to the ad-hoc panel in this regard. The request for overseas training has apparently been turned down," a source in the know of things told this daily.
Gyanender (60kg), Neeraj (67kg), Vikas (77kg), Sunil Kumar (87kg), Narinder Cheema (97kg) and Naveen (130kg) won the trials held last month to book a place in the national team for the Asian Games. "Their demand makes sense as the Asian Games and Worlds are close to each other. Anyway, Indian Greco-Roman wrestlers are not expected to win Olympic quotas in the world qualifier. Their best chance is during the continental qualifier so it's better to focus on the Asian Games at the moment," one of the coaches told this daily.
These wrestlers recently returned to the country after attending a special training camp in Romania. They also competed in an international event in Bucharest with Sunil winning 87kg gold and Narinder (97kg), Neeraj (67kg) and Vikas (77kg) bagging a bronze medal each. Sources also claimed that a few wrestlers in men's freestyle and women's wrestling can also pull out of the trials. Bajrang set to attend mahapanchayat With mahapanchayat of heads of various khaps from Haryana scheduled on Thursday in Jind, Haryana, all eyes will be on Bajrang. The meeting is being held to discuss the direct entry given to the wrestler for the Asian Games. Vishal Kaliraman, who won the 65kg trials, and his family, have called the meeting and invited Bajrang for it.
"Yes, me and Bajrang will attend the meeting," said Harender, Bajrang's elder brother. "We will abide by the decision of the panchayat but all khaps including those, who stood by Bajrang and other women wrestlers during the protest, should pronounce the verdict. If all of them ask Bajrang to let Vishal compete in Hangzhou then we will accept the decision," he added.
