Protesting wrestlers keen on participating in Asian Games trials
The wrestlers announced their intention to compete in the Asian Games selection trials on Thursday, a day after calling off their protest after meeting sports minister Anurag Thakur. On Thursday, he had said, that all national federations intend to complete the Asian Games rosters.
The selection trials will most likely take place in the final week of June and will be overseen by the two-person ad hoc committee of Bhupender Singh Bajwa and Suma Shirur, who have been managing the day-to-day operations of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) since May 4.
The wrestlers, however, request extra time to prepare for the trials. International wrestler Satyawart Kadian, who is also Sakshi Malik's husband, told PTI on Thursday that in order to be ready for the selection process, his team needs at least 15 days of training.
It will be difficult for the wrestlers to get back into competitive mindset given some haven't wrestled since the World Championships in September of last year and others haven't participated since the Commonwealth Games in August of 2022.
Due to the protest, Vinesh Phogat and Bajrang Punia chose not to attend their international training camps in April, and the grapplers recently withdrew from a number of international competitions.
While the two protest leaders—bronze medalists from the Tokyo Olympics, Bajrang, and the world championship, Vinesh—appear on the long list, the same cannot be true about Rio Olympics bronze medalist Malik.
(With PTI inputs)
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