NEW DELHI: Angered by the Indian Olympic Association's (IOA) ad-hoc committee's decision to exempt Vinesh Phogat and Bajrang Punia from trials for the upcoming Asian Games, former junior world champion Antim Panghal and reigning U-23 and U-20 Asian title holder Sujeet Kalkal on Wednesday moved the Delhi High Court demanding a fair and transparent selection process.
However, the ad-hoc committee later announced that no exemption will be given in any of the 10 weight categories in all three formats, including that of Vinesh and Bajrang, for the World Championships in Serbia's Belgrade from September 16 to 24, which will act as a qualifier for the Paris Olympics 2024. The dates of trials will be intimated later on. The last date of sending entries for registration to United World Wrestling is August 15, 2023.
Moments after the two moved the court, the fault lines between the IOA's top leadership and its own ad-hoc committee became apparent when the former tweaked the criteria for trials announced to select the final wrestling contingent for the Asiad, scheduled to be held in China's Hangzhou from September 23 to October 8.
It's been learnt that the ad-hoc committee took the decision to exempt Vinesh (women's freestyle 53kg) and Bajrang (men's freestyle 65kg) from trials in consultation with the sports ministry and Sports Authority of India (SAI), without taking IOA chief PT Usha into confidence.
It resulted in Usha & Co. coming up with a press release, only to put out another one minutes later with clarification, as confusion reigned over the selection process. The first release said: "To maximise the chances of sending the most competitive wrestling team to the Asian Games 2022, the final selection of wrestlers will be made prior to departure of the team for the competition."
Later, the IOA issued another release with clarification: "To maximise the chances of sending the most competitive wrestling team to the Asian Games 2022, the final assessment of the wrestling team will be made prior to departure of the team for the competition". This has left the doors open for Antim, Sujeet and others in Vinesh and Bajrang's weight categories to book their berth for the continental multisport event.
However, Antim and Sujeet had, by that time, knocked on the doors of the Delhi High Court to challenge the decision of the ad-hoc committee.
The joint petition by the two demanded that the directive issued by the ad-hoc committee with regards to the Vinesh and Bajrang's weight categories be quashed and the exemption granted to them be set aside. The matter has been listed for Thursday morning. The trials will be held on July 22 and 23 at the IG stadium here.
"Vinesh has received direct entry for the Asian Games despite not having trained in the last one year. She doesn't have any achievements in the last one year. Last year, at the Junior World Championships, I won a gold medal and became the first woman wrestler from India to achieve this feat. In the 2023 Asian Championships, I won a silver, but Vinesh has no achievement to show in this period. She was also injured. Sakshee Malikkh has also won an Olympic medal, she too is not exempted. What is so special about Vinesh? Just organise trials (for all). I am not saying that I am the only one who can beat Vinesh. There are several other girls who can beat her," said Panghal in a video message.
Dayanand Kalkal, father of Sujeet, said, "Since the beginning of the protest, these wrestlers wanted exemption from trials. Their fight was never for justice or for the cause of junior wrestlers. All they wanted was automatic selection for the Asian Games and World Championships. That's why we have moved the court to expose them."
To protest the ad-hoc committee's decision, Antim, Vishal Kaliraman - who competes in Bajrang's category - and several other wrestlers took out a protest march in Hisar demanding that trials be conducted in all weight categories.
Meanwhile, the much-delayed Wrestling Federation of India's (WFI) elections will be held on August 7 following a series of postponements, it's been learnt. The elections were earlier scheduled to be held on July 11 but the Gauhati High Court had stayed the polls, following Assam Wrestling Association's (AWA) plea seeking right to participate in the poll process. The roadblock was cleared on Tuesday after the Supreme Court stayed the High Court's order.
