Wrestling world championships: Federation tells women to attend trials, exempts men
Despite their winning two gold, one silver and two bronze medals at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham this month, the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) is not happy with the performances of any of the six women wresters who took part. It has thus decided to act “tough” against them ahead of the World Wrestling Championships scheduled from September 10 to 18 in Belgrade, Serbia.
The federation has refused to exempt the wrestlers, including gold medallists Sakshi Malik (62kg) and Vinesh Phogat (53kg), and asked them to appear in the selection trials for the Worlds on August 28 at the Sports Authority of India’s Lucknow centre to be considered for selection.
These six and others including Sonam Malik and Antim—both are currently participating in the U-20 World Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria—have been allowed to skip the national camp on here, though they all have to take part in the trials for the Worlds.
The WFI’s stand though is different when it comes to the top male wrestlers.
It has given exemption to the top three—CWG champions Bajrang Punia (65kg), Ravi Dahiya (57kg) and Deepak Punia (86kg)—from attending the camp as well as the trials. The trio has been allowed to train overseas and join the India squad directly at the World Championships.
Bajrang and Deepak are due to leave for the USA shortly. They will train at the Michigan University facility where they trained ahead of the CWG. Dahiya, the Tokyo Olympics silver medallist, has left to train in Russia with two sparring partners and a physiotherapist.
“The WFI is dissatisfied with women wrestlers' performance in Birmingham. As the field was depleted (in CWG) other athletes too could have won gold. Even our gold medallists faced poor competition,” WFI assistant secretary Vinod Tomar said on Wednesday. “WFI is doing everything for them and we expected all six (women) to win gold as there were easy opportunities for them.
“Our top three male wrestlers will join the Indian team at the World Championships directly after training overseas. They are also exempt from the national camp, but there is no relaxation for women wrestlers. There are plenty of young wrestlers in the national camp at the moment and all should have equal opportunities.
“Whoever wins the trials only will represent India at the Worlds. If our top wrestlers don’t attend the trials, WFI will not consider them for selection. No one receives outright support,” Tomar said on Tuesday after announcing a list of 35 campers for the national camp.
On the six women CWG medallists, Tomar said: “They’ve been exempted for the camp because they are busy in various functions, not for the trials.”
Tomar also said while the three male wrestlers had already attended a couple of camps, the next best wrestlers in their weight categories are no match for them at the moment.
A day after the women’s trials the two-day men’s trials will take place in New Delhi, on August 29 and 30. The trials will be held in all 10 weight categories.
It is learnt that most of the CWG medallists, including women, wanted to be sent directly to the Worlds. “All should be given an equal opportunity at the trials. I’m sure a few seniors won’t attend the trials as they know that some of the youngsters are good enough to beat them,” said a WFI insider, who did not wish to be named.
LIST OF WOMEN CAMPERS:
50kg: Shivani, Nandini, Neelam, Jyoti; 53 kg: Aarti Saroha, Swati, Shivani, Ishika, Sangeeta; 55kg: Bhavika, Pinki, Sushma Shokeen; 57kg: Manshi, Neetu, Archana, Usha; 59kg: Sarita, Kusum, Pooja; 62kg: Sangeeta, Ritu Rani, Lovleen, Freedom; 65kg: Nisha, Jaspreet Kaur, Shafali, Sumit; 68kg: Nikita, Anuradha, Nikki, Bhavna; 72kg: Kulwinder; 76kg: Bipasha and Sudesh.
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