India will go unrepresented in five categories at the upcoming Zagreb Open in Croatia as Bajrang Punia, Antim Panghal and three others didn’t give consent for their selection to the ad-hoc panel that announced a 13-member team on Tuesday.
Senior Worlds bronze medallist Panghal made herself unavailable as she wants to attend the national sports award ceremony where she will be conferred with the prestigious Arjuna award, while Olympic bronze medallist Bajrang, who had returned empty handed from the Asian Games, also decided to give it a miss.
Bajrang, one of the prominent faces of the wrestlers’ protest against Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, was the only one missing in men’s freestyle as the ad-hoc panel picked Aman Sehrawat (57kg), Yash (74kg), Deepak Punia (86kg), Vicky (97kg) and Sumit Malik (125kg) — all who had participated at the Hangzhou Asian Games.
Panghal, who had won a bronze medal at the Asian Games, was not available for a comment but her coach Vikas Bhardwaj said that she has opted out of the tournament because her ward has to attend the sports awards ceremony on January 9, a day before the competition starts in Zagreb. The team for the first world ranking tournament in the Croatian capital, which will be held from January 10 to 14, was picked after issues related to procurement of visas had been looked into.
Panghal (53kg), Pooja Gehlot (50kg), Mansi Ahlawat (57kg), Kiran (76kg), who were part of the Indian team which competed in Hangzhou, also didn’t give their consent, forcing the ad-hoc body to select just two wrestlers in women’s freestyle — Sonam Malik (62kg) and Radhika (68kg) for the Ranking Series event.
The ad-hoc panel is being headed by Bhupinder Singh Bajwa.
“Thanks to a timely intervention by the Ministry of External Affairs, the 25 Indians due to travel to Zagreb will complete the visa formalities on Wednesday,” Bajwa said in a press release issued on Tuesday.
“The team was facing difficulty in securing a visa appointment. However, the Ministry of External Affairs has helped the team in this regard.” The ad-hoc committee chairman said the Croatian Wrestling Federation Secretary-General Tin Bregovic had sent a letter of invitation for the 13 wrestlers, nine coaching and support staff and three referees.
“We have taken every step to ensure that the team reaches Zagreb well in time for the tournament,” Bajwa said.
“We have ensured that India’s Olympic hopefuls would compete in their respective weight class along with a 2kg weight allowance in the first ranking event of the Olympic year,” he said.
“We are confident that the 13 who will compete in Zagreb will make the most of the chance to prepare for the Asian Qualification tournament in April and the World Qualification tournament in May.”
The team:
Men Freestyle: Aman (57kg); Yash (74kg), Deepak Punia (86kg), Vicky (97kg) and Sumit (125kg).
Greco-Roman: Gyanender (60kg), Neeraj (67kg), Vikas (77kg), Sunil Kumar (87kg), Narinder Cheema (97kg) and Naveen (130kg).
Women: Sonam (62kg) and Radhika (68kg).
Coaching and support staff: Kuldeep Singh (team leader and coach), Vinod Kumar, Sujeet, Shashi Bhushan Prasad, Manoj Kumar, Virender Singh and Alka Tomar (coaches); Vishal Kumar Rai (physiotherapist) and Neeraj (masseur).
Referees: Satya Dev Malik, Dinesh Dhondiba Gund and Sanjay Kumar.
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