New Delhi, on July 21st.
The IOA has chosen to hold the Asian Games wrestling trials without spectators because some parents of the wrestlers got into a serious argument with the committee members at the IG Stadium on Friday.
There was a lot of anger and arguments between wrestlers and their families. They were upset because Bajrang Punia and Vinesh Phogat were allowed to skip the trials for the Olympics. They threatened to not participate in the trials as a protest.
The wrestlers’ families went to the place where the trial was happening and argued with a temporary group, saying that the decision was not fair and not right.
The parents of Antim Panghal, who is a world U20 champion in wrestling, and another wrestler named Vikas Kaliraman’s father, Subhash Kaliraman, had a strong argument with the temporary panel members. Because they anticipated problems, the impromptu group decided to only let certain people enter the wrestling hall for the trials. No one else, like spectators, will be allowed inside.
Each wrestler will have their coach and masseur with them.
Gian Singh, a member of the ad hoc panel, said that the head police officer in the area has been told to have enough staff to make sure nobody goes into the hall.
The trials will happen as planned and on Saturday, they will choose people for six Greco-Roman and six women’s categories. The competitions for six categories of men’s freestyle events will happen on Sunday.
“Trials will happen tomorrow because the Delhi High Court did not stop them,” Singh said.
Our job is to set up the tests, and we will send the name of the first person who arrives to the IOA. He said it is the job of the IOA to decide who they want to send to the Asian Games.
The wrestling trials for the Asian Games became a big controversy when the temporary committee gave special entries to Vinesh and Bajrang. They were leaders of a protest against the person in charge of the Wrestling Federation of India.
Many young wrestlers such as Antim and Sujeet Kalkal disagreed with the exceptions and went to the Delhi High Court to demand a fair trial.
Olympic medallist Sakshi Malik and celebrated Yogeshwar Dutt were against Brij Bhushan and the ad-hoc panel’s decision.
Yogeshwar, a medallist from the London Olympics and a member of the IOA’s Athletes Committee, had many meetings with coaches Singh and Ashok Garg, who used to be wrestlers. He tried to talk to them about the unfair treatment of younger wrestlers.
Panel member Singh said that the trials for the World Championships, which will take place in Belgrade, Serbia in September, will be held next month.
There will be trials for the world championship from August 10 to 15. The top four wrestlers from the trials on July 22 and 23 in each category will compete in the trials. Additionally, the six wrestlers who were protesting will also need to participate in the trials to have a chance at being chosen for the World Championships.