Indian wrestlers will not compete at the Matteo Pellicone Ranking Series scheduled to begin in Rome, Italy on Wednesday. The reason? All the selected wrestlers including Tokyo Olympics medallists Bajrang Punia and Ravi Dahiya have to be in the country for the collection of their biometric information to process visas for the upcoming Commonwealth Games (CWG) in Birmingham, UK.
"The wrestlers have to be in the country for visa processing. We have given passports to the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) as the visas are expected to be processed this week," Vinod Tomar, assistant secretary of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI), told The New Indian Express. The wrestlers will now continue to camp at designated centres — women at SAI centre, Lucknow and men at SAI centre, Sonepat.
"We don't want to delay visa process so the WFI has decided to skip the Rome tournament. Once the visas are processed, the wrestlers will compete in the upcoming events before the CWG," added Tomar. The next event is the Grand Prix of Spain in Madrid from July 8 to 10. It will be followed by Zouhaier Sghaier Ranking Series in Tunis, Tunisia from July 14 to 17. The two-day wrestling competition at the CWG is scheduled to begin on August 5.
Ace wrestler Bajrang also confirmed the development and said, "I haven't decided on my participation in Spain and Tunisia yet. I may or may not participate there. I also have plans to train in the USA ahead of the CWG but anything can be said with certainty only after the plans are approved."
U-17 women create history
Meanwhile, the Indian women's wrestling team created history by winning the U-17 Asian Championships title in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan on Tuesday. The women wrestlers from the country won medals in all the ten weight categories — eight gold, one silver and as many bronze — they competed at the ongoing championships. The brilliant show meant they finished with 235 points ahead of Japan (143 points) and Mongolia (138 points).
"This is for the first time that the Indian U-17 women wrestlers have won the continental title beating heavyweights like Japan. Pulkit (65kg), who won silver, got injured and had to contend with a second-place finish," said Tomar.
While Mushkan (40kg), Shruti (46kg), Reena (53kg), Savita (61kg) won a gold each and Mansi Bhadana (69kg) bagged a bronze on Monday, Ritika (43kg), Ahilaya Shinde (49kg), Siksha (73kg), Priya (73kg) finished on the top of the podium on Tuesday.
Besides, the competitions in three weight categories of freestyle were also held on Tuesday and two of the Indian wrestlers won medals in their respective divisions. Parwinder Singh bagged gold in 80kg while Narender won 71kg silver. The competition in the remaining seven weight categories of freestyle will be held on Wednesday.