Asian Games: Ad hoc committee thinking of keeping Vinesh Phogat, Bajrang Punia and Sakshi Malik in reserve, dates of trials will be announced on July 10

All the wrestlers in the country including Vinesh Phogat, Bajrang Punia and Sakshi Malik will get full time to prepare for the Asian Games trials. Ad-hoc committee member Gyan Singh shared this information with news agency PTI. According to Gyan Singh, the date of the trials will be announced on July 10 and it is likely to be conducted around July 20. It has been learned that the organizers have received an ‘unauthorised’ assurance from the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) regarding the extension of the last date for sending the names of the players regarding the Asian Games. After this, trials will be conducted to ‘shortlist’ Indian wrestlers for the Asian Games.

Gyan Singh also informed that the ad-hoc committee will explore the possibility of sending the names of 6 wrestlers (Vinesh Phogat, Bajrang Punia, Sakshi Malik, Satyawart Kadian, Sangeeta Phogat, Jitendra Kinha) to the Asian Games as reserves who took part in the protest. Has been The rationale behind the move is that if he wins the one-off match against the winner of the Trials in August, he could be included in the Indian squad.

There can be 3 male and 3 female wrestlers in reserve

Gyan Singh said, “We explored the possibility of sending two entries per weight category for the Games. But obviously this is not possible. However, there is a provision to send the names of the reserve. The 6 wrestlers who had sought more time for the trials will be included as reserves. We will send a confirmed entry and the names of the 6 wrestlers who asked for more time will be put in the reserve list. There is a provision to send the names of three male and three female wrestlers as reserves.

The OCA had earlier fixed the last date as July 15, 2023.

The OCA had set July 15 as the last date for sending entries to the Asian Games organisers, but reports suggest that the OCA is considering extending the deadline following efforts by the Indian Olympic Association’s (IOA) ad-hoc committee for wrestling. However, till now the information regarding the extension of the date has not been shared with the Ad-hoc Committee.

Ad hoc committee is yet to receive any email from OCA

“So far no email has been received from OCA regarding extension of deadline, but unofficially they said they are ready to relax the date for sending entries of names,” PTI quoted Gyan Singh as saying. However, until we get confirmation, we cannot say whether it will be extended for 10, 12, 15 or more days.

Asian Games trials date to be announced on July 10

“…But without delaying the process much, we will announce the date of Asian Games trials by Monday (July 10) and it will be around July 20,” he said. Six wrestlers, including Olympic medalist Bajrang Punia, Sakshi Malik and Asian Games gold medalist Vinesh Phogat, had sought additional time from the Sports Ministry to prepare for the Asian Games trials.

6 wrestlers including Vinesh, Bajrang, Sakshi got this exemption

These wrestlers said that due to the 38-day protest against the outgoing Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, they did not get time to practice for the trials. The ad-hoc committee had reduced these protesting wrestlers to a single event, exempting them from the trials for the Asian Games and the World Championships.

After that, the decision of the ad-hoc committee was criticized from all sides. Gyan Singh said that the wrestlers will be given full time to prepare for the trials. “We will give at least 10 days’ time to the wrestlers to prepare for the trials,” he said.

Gyan Singh informed that the wrestlers will be given enough time to prepare and plan to reach for the trials. “We will give at least 10 days to the wrestlers to prepare for the trials. Wrestlers will come from all over the country, so we have to give them at least 10 days to prepare.