Bajrang Punia, Vinesh Phogat get direct berth for Asian Games

Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist Bajrang Punia and two-time world championships medallist Vinesh Phogat have been exempted from appearing in the selection trials for the Asian Games scheduled on July 22 and 23.

The two will get a direct entry to compete at Hangzhou in September-October. However, there was no exemption given to four other wrestlers who were part of the protest against former wrestling federation president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh over sexual harassment.

The decision on exemption was taken by the ad-hoc committee of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) on Tuesday after a series of meetings with national coaches and experts over the last week.

Bajrang (65kg) and Vinesh (50kg) won gold at the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta. The two were India's only wrestlers to win medals in the World Championships last year.

However, selection trials will be conducted in all the 18 weight categories, including in the divisions of Bajrang and Vinesh. The winner of the trials in these two weight classes will be kept in standbys.

The exemption was granted based on Wrestling Federation of India's (WFI) regulation for selection trials for the Asian Games. It says, "The selection trials in all weight categories are mandatory, however, the selection committee will have the discretion to select iconic players like medallists of Olympics/World Championships without trials provided recommendation by chief coach/foreign expert," the WFI regulations say.

Tokyo Olympics silver medallist Ravi Dahiya too falls under the criteria. As reported by Hindustan Times last week, the ad-hoc committee discussed all three names for exemption from the trials. However, Dahiya will have to take part in the trials. He has been nursing a knee injury this year and has spent the last six months in rehab. He missed the Asian Championships and pulled out of his comeback tournament, the Bishkek ranking series event in May, after feeling discomfort during a warm up session.

The six wrestlers who led the protest, including Commonwealth Games medallist Sakshi Malik, Satyawart Kadian, Sangeeta Phogat, Jitendra Kinha, have written to the union sports ministry asking for time till August 10 to prepare for the Asian Games trials. The IOA requested the Olympic Council of Asia to grant extension till August 5 to send the final entry list for wrestling. The OCA deadline was July 15. The OCA granted extension for only a week, asking IOA to send the wrestling squad list by July 23.

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