Guess what! The famous sportsmen ‘Bajrang Punia’ and ‘Vinesh Phogat’ have been exempted from the world one of the most important Asian games selection trials.
Asian games will begin from September 23 but the selection trials to choose the Indian Wrestling team will be held on July 22 and 23 at the Kedar Jadhav Hall in New Delhi. Here is the twist to the selection, the Indian Olympic Association Committee In its circular mentioned the selected wrestlers in men’s freestyle 65kg and women’s 53 kg but they didn’t name any wrestler directly. On the other hand, IOA confirmed to PTI that Bajrang Punia and Vinesh Phogat have been exempted from attending the trials which means these two wrestlers will get direct entry to the Indian Squad for the 2023 Asian Games.
Bajrang Punia is an Olympic medallist in India’s premier wrestler in the men’s 65 kg category while Vinesh Phogat is a commonwealth games champion and world championship medallist in the women’s 53kg division. They along with the other four wrestlers were into the trials.
However, this recent decision has sparked controversy amongst the Indian wrestling committee. The outgoing chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh of WFI (Wrestling Federation of India) has even expressed his disappointment as he feels it is highly unfortunate and detrimental to the sport. He also told that this won’t be fair to all others who have worked hard to lift this sport to such a level, their family, and fans all have worked so hard for their upbringings. This decision has not only drawn criticism from Singh but also from other athletes who have slammed the panel’s decision and are asking for a fair decision for all athletes.
Even the committee has started realizing that it has been a wrong decision which is exactly why now it’s been in a discussion with the executive committee waiting for a positive and fair reply.
