The Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) ad-hoc panel caused controversy by granting direct entries to Bajrang Punia and Vinesh Phogat, Olympic and World Championship medallists respectively, for the Asian Games. The decision disregarded the consent of the national chief coaches. Despite pre-selected wrestlers for the men’s freestyle 65kg and women’s 53kg categories, trials will now be held for all six weight categories across the three styles.
Ashok Garg, a panel member, confirmed the exemption of Bajrang and Vinesh from the trials. The Indian Olympic Association’s ad-hoc committee surprisingly made this decision merely four days prior to the scheduled trials, aiming to finalize the wrestling squad for the Asian Games starting on September 23 in Hangzhou, China.
The greco-roman and women’s freestyle trials are scheduled for July 22, while the men’s freestyle trials will occur on July 23 at IG Stadium in New Delhi.
Bajrang, currently training in Issyk-Kul, Kyrgyzstan, competes in the 65kg category and was among the six wrestlers protesting at Jantar Mantar, demanding the arrest of Brij Bhushan. In contrast, Vinesh, who secured the gold medal in the 53kg category at the 2018 Jakarta Asian Games, is presently training in Budapest, Hungary.
Nevertheless, discontent has arisen among fellow competitors regarding the decision to exempt Bajrang and Vinesh. Some have even threatened legal action, unexpectedly complicating the preparations for the Asian Games.
