Wrestling trials for Asian Games on July 22 and 23 in Delhi | More sports News – Times of India

NEW DELHI: The ad-hoc committee of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) announced on Wednesday that the wrestling trials for the Asian Games will take place on July 22 and 23 in the capital.
However, the committee has yet to determine the criteria for the trials and whether any of the six protesting wrestlers should be granted exemption.
Following the IOA’s request for an extension beyond July 22, the Olympic Council of Asia(OCA) rejected the appeal.In response, the ad-hoc committee convened in Delhi and decided that the trials for men’s Greco Roman and women’s categories will be held on July 22.The selection for the men’s freestyle team will take place on the following day.
The ad-hoc committee is responsible for conducting trials in 18 Olympic weight categories, including six categories each in three formats: freestyle and Greco Roman for men, and freestyle for women.
“We have decided to conduct trials on July 22 and 23 at the Kedar Jadhav hall in IG Stadium. First we will invite the Greco Roman and women’s wrestlers and then the men’s freestyle wrestlers. We want our interested U-20 wrestlers to compete in the Asian Games trials. They will return to India on July 21 and hence we want to give them a chance to make a case for themselves,” ad-hoc panel head Bhupender Singh Bajwa told PTI.
“I will share the criteria with you all tomorrow. We are still undecided on that,” Bajwa added.
India’s U-15 and U-20 contingents are in Jordan’s capital city of Amman to compete in the Asian Championship.
Six wrestlers — Vinesh Phogat, Bajrang Punia, Sakshi Malik, Sangeeta Phogat, Satyawart Kadiyan and Jitender Kinha — had requested the IOA to give them time till August 10 to prepare for the trial, saying they are not in best physical and mental shape due to their months-long protest against WFI chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh.
While Vinesh is in Budapest to compete in season’s last UWW Ranking Series event, Bajrang, Jitender and Sangeeta are in Bishkek for training.
Sakshi and her husband Kadiyan are in the US for training.
The panel had earlier proposed that trials will be held in two stages where the six wrestlers will be asked to compete against the winners of the initial trials to book their slot for the Asian Games.
However, the decision had invited criticism from all quarters with many terming it as “biased” and “unfair”.
The ad-hoc panel will meet again on Friday to decide on the final criteria.
“Tomorrow, the committee members will meet the Sports Minister and IOA President. We want to take their advice. It is also being deliberated that six protesting wrestlers’ names can be sent as reserves also,” coach Gian Singh, a panel member, said.
“The best 3-4 wrestlers in each category can be asked to compete against each other in a round-robin format in August and the best wrestler can be picked for the Asian Games, but nothing is finalised,” he added.
(With PTI inputs)