Anuj Kumar wins court battle, then proves himself in trials

Armed with a court order to participate in the selection trials for the Asian Championships, Anuj Kumar cruised through his bouts to emerge as the surprise winner in the 65 kg weight category at the IG Stadium in New Delhi on Friday.

Anuj and his coach Ajay Dhanda spent some sleepless nights over the last few days as his name did not figure among the shortlisted candidates. Anuj is a National Games Champion and Under-23 national champion but his achievements did not fall under the criteria set by the Sports Ministry's Oversight Committee which is running the day-to-day affairs of the Wrestling Federation of India.

They moved Delhi High Court against the decision on March 7 and lived through some anxious moments as the court was closed for the next two days. Eventually, just hours before the trials, Anuj and four other wrestlers from Dhanda's academy got some relief when the Delhi High Court on Thursday evening instructed the Oversight Committee to include them in the trials.

"The list came on March 3 and since then we have been knocking on every door -- sports ministry, SAI, Oversight Committee. When all the doors closed on us, the only option left to us was to go to court because it is a question of my trainee's career," said Dhanda, who runs Shahid Bhagat Singh Academy in Mirchpur, Hisar.

"My trainees had every right to compete in the trials. We moved the court on March 7 and the court was closed for the next few days because of the holiday."

In a special hearing on Thursday, Justice Prathibha M Singh permitted all five to be allowed in the trials. "We got the order at 9 pm on Thursday much to our relief and my boys proved me right," said Dhanda.

There were only four wrestlers left in the 65kg weight category after Tokyo Olympic bronze medallist Bajrang Punia pulled out. In the nordic round, Anuj fought with single-minded determination to win all his three bouts -- Sujeet (3-1), Jaskaran Singh (6-3), Suraj Kokata (10-0).

"I won the trials for the U-23 world championships but the team did not get a visa for Spain, except for one wrestler. That was not my fault. The U-23 Worlds medallist was allowed to participate and If I had gone there I could have won a medal too. I am also a National Games champion," said Anuj.

"I was very disappointed. I have sacrificed so much for the sport and in such an important year, where there are Asian Games and Olympic qualifiers, how can you deny me a chance to compete? I felt like everything was being taken away from me. The criteria set was not right," says the 23-year-old who will now represent India at the Asian Championships in Astana, Kazakhstan. from April 9.

Chander Mohan (74kg) and Sachin Mor (79kg), who also competed after the court order, also gave a good display.

"All the five wrestlers could compete because of the court intervention, and there were several promising wrestlers who may have lost out because of the criteria," said Dhanda.

Rohit Singh, who gave a tough fight to Bajrang Punia in the 65kg trials last year, also missed out. In 10 freestyle weight categories, 55 wrestlers had made the cut in the initial list before five more were added. The competition, in both freestyle and greco-roman, was held in Nordic style where everyone competes against each other.

"They should have included more wrestlers in the trials. Instead of international medallists, they should have gone for India representation in major meets because currently, all these wrestlers are pretty much of the same level, and in an important year, everyone deserves a chance," said Mahabir Bishnoi, Dronacharya awardee coach.

The Oversight Committee conducted a smooth trial restricting the number of people who could accompany the participating wrestlers, though there were complaints of coaches being denied entry. Inside the arena, a heated situation was avoided in the Greco roman 67kg semi-final bout between Sachin Sehrawat and Sagar. The bout was decided in the very last second and the panel immediately sent the video to UWW to check on the move after a complaint from the losing wrestler's team.

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