CHENNAI: As many as 40 women wrestlers have been named for the national camp scheduled to commence at SAI centre in Lucknow on Friday. All the medallists of the recently concluded national championship have been called up, but renowned wrestlers like Divya Kakran (68kg) and Pooja Dhanda (57kg) failed to make the list.
While the Asian champion Kakran was stunned in the opening round of the nationals, Dhanda preferred to skip the meet to prepare for selection trials scheduled in March for the Olympic qualifiers. Rio Olympic bronze medallist Sakshi Malik, who lost 62kg final to Sonam Malik to finish with a silver medal, though will attend the camp.
“Only medallists from each weight category were called for the camp. Every weight category has four medallists — one gold and silver each, and two bronze — which means a total of 40 grapplers from 10 weight categories were named for the camp,” a source from Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) told this daily. The camp will continue till March 31.
With the federation preferring medallists, the camp will be first for many wrestlers, who had gained eligibility by medalling for the first time in the nationals. Kuldeep Singh will be the head coach and he will be assisted by Pardeep Kumar Sharma, Sahil Sharma, Sukhwinder Kaur and Shiksha. Dhirendra Pratap Singh and Sadhna Gautam will be the physiotherapists while Jagroshni will be the masseuse.
Revised protocols
The Sports Authority of India (SAI) has made changes to Covid protocols to ensure training of athletes returning from competitions do not get affected. As per the revised guidelines, the wrestlers will now be housed in separate blocks till their RT-PCR test results return negative. This is done to ensure they do not come in contact with the trainees already in bio-bubble. Separate dining arrangements will be made for these athletes.