Wrestling World Championships Trials to be Held After WFI Election as Ad-hoc Panel Seeks to Avoid Controversy

The IOA-constituted ad-hoc committee for wrestling will likely leave the job of organising trials for the World Championships to the elected WFI office-bearers and is planning to “issue a directive” in a day or two.

The Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) will elect its new office-bearers on August 12, which would leave only four days for them to organise the Worlds trials and send the entries, which close on August 16.

The World Championships will be held in Belgrade from September 16-24 where 90 quota places for the 2024 Paris Olympics will be at stake.

The ad-hoc panel was initially planning to organise the trials around August 10 and issue a notification between August 1-3.

However, a source close to the ad-hoc committee members said on condition of anonymity on Thursday that most of the panel members want the elected WFI office-bearers to organise the trials “to avoid more controversy”.

“The ad-hoc panel is planning to hand over the task of organising trials to the elected body. The thinking is that, the new office-bearers will still have 3-4 days to organise the trials and send the entries before the August 16 deadline,” said the source.

“The (ad-hoc) panel is planning to issue a directive in this regard in a day or two.”

The trials for the Asian Games held at the KD Jadhav Indoor Hall at the Indira Gandhi Stadium in New Delhi on July 22-23 had received a lot of attention with wrestlers, their coaches and parents protesting the exemption given Olympic medallist Bajrang Punia (65kg freestyle) and Asian Games gold medallist Vinesh Phogat (53kg).

The IOA ad-hoc committee was criticised for sending the names of the winners of the trials — Antim Panghal and Vishal Kaliraman — as standbys, while Bajrang and Vinesh were the first-choice names.

Antim and Vishal had also approached the high court against the ad-hoc committee’s decision but their appeal was turned down.

Anticipating another controversy, the “ad-hoc committee wants the elected body to conduct the trials and take selection calls,” said the officials.

The mandate of the ad-hoc panel will end the day the elected office-bearers take charge on August 12, and there is talk that the new governing body could alter the selection criteria of the ad-hoc panel.

“They (new office-bearers) might say that the ad-hoc panel made two wrong selection calls (regarding giving preference to Bajrang and Vinesh for the Asian Games). The ad-hoc body might get more criticism if it announces the selection criteria for the World Championships. So, in order to avoid more controversies, the panel members want to pass on the baton and just say goodbye,” said the source.

Another source said that the United World Wrestling (UWW) could “accommodate India’s request” for extending the deadline for sending entries for World Championships beyond August 16.