Following the Olympic quota place winners’ request to exempt them from trials, the seven-member Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) selection committee, on Tuesday, unanimously decided to allow them to compete in the Paris Olympics.
The WFI, which was keen to hold trials between the quota place winners and challengers to pick wrestlers for the Olympics as per its selection policy, considered several factors to reach at the decision.
The primary concern was that cutting down weight frequently for competitions would increase the risk of injuries and adversely affect the wrestlers’ performance in Paris.
The Olympic-qualified wrestlers would compete in a ranking event in Hungary from June 6 to 9 to gather points for seeding. Had the WFI held its proposed trials on June 10, then it would have been too difficult for the wrestlers.
“Five wrestlers (except Vinesh Phogat) had written to the WFI requesting exemption from trials. The selection committee decided not to conduct the trials and send the quota winners to Paris,” said WFI president Sanjay Singh.
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Six wrestlers, including five females – Vinesh (50kg), Antim Panghal (53 kg), Anshu Malik (57kg), Nisha Dahiya (68kg) and Reetika Hooda (76kg) – and male freestyle wrestler Aman Sehrawat (57 kg), have qualified for Paris 2024.
While Antim booked a berth in the World Championships last year, Vinesh, Anshu and Reetika earned tickets to Paris in the Asian Olympic qualifier in April. Sehrawat and Nisha won quotas in the World Olympic qualifier earlier this month.
Now two-time World championships bronze medallist Vinesh, who had participated in 50kg and 53kg in the selection trials for the qualifiers and was keen to challenge Antim in the trials for Paris 2024, will have to compete in 50kg.
The decision also ended the dream of several wrestlers, including Tokyo Olympics silver medallist Ravi Dahiya (57kg) and former Worlds bronze medallist Sarita Mor (57kg), who aspired to compete in Paris.
In case a wrestler picks up an injury, the WFI will hold trials to replace him/her by July 8, the last date for closing entries. Besides, the selection committee may review the Olympic-qualified wrestlers’ performance in the ranking event in Hungary.
The selection committee concluded that the decision not to allow quota-earning wrestlers to compete in the Olympics without trials was a one-time exception and would not apply to future selections.
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