No selection trials for quota-winning wrestlers, says WFI

New Delhi: There will be no selection trials for all six Olympic quota-winning wrestlers as the sport’s national federation (WFI) on Tuesday announced that all of them will represent the country at the Paris Games. However, they will be subjected to assessment at a 11-day-long training camp in Hungary, beginning June 10.The decision was taken at WFI’s selection committee meeting here after considering the requests received from quota-winning wrestlers that holding the trials could lead to injuries. It means that Aman Sehrawat will be India’s choice in the men’s freestyle 57kg division, while Vinesh Phogat (50kg), Antim Panghal (53kg), Anshu Malik (57kg), Nisha Dahiya (68kg) and Reetika Hooda (76kg) will represent the country at the Games in the women’s category. The wrestling competition in Paris will be held from August 5-11.The development has also spelt an end to the challenge of wrestlers including Ravi Dahiya (men’s 57kg), Shivani Pawar (women’s 50kg), Ankush (50kg), Pooja (53kg), Sarita Mor (57kg), Mansi Ahlawat (57kg) and Kiran (76kg), among others, who all were training in anticipation of a trial with the quota winners.The decision also means that Vinesh will now compete in the women's 50kg event only. If the trials had happened, she would have had the chance to challenge Antim for a spot in the 53kg division.During the time of Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh as WFI’s president, the federation had a policy to hold trials to select the wrestling contingent. The policy had come into effect in 2021. But, with several of the existing quota winners sending written requests to the WFI’s current president Sanjay Singh that holding the trials at this juncture may lead to injuries before the Games, the selection committee decided to do away with the process this time since making the weight would also pose a major problem for the wrestlers.Singh, however, made one thing clear to the Paris-bound wrestlers.“The chief national coaches will be assessing them over the course of a ranking series tournament in Budapest, scheduled between June 6-9 and later at a 10-day training camp in the Hungarian capital, to be held from June 10-21. If we find any wrestler lacking in fitness or is injured, we can still go ahead with trials in that particular weight category to pick the best athlete to represent the country at the Games. The last date to send entries to the Paris Games organisers is July 8. We want to ensure that the best wrestlers go to Paris,” Singh said.