CHENNAI: The Wrestling Federation of India has announced the guidelines for selection trials to pick the teams for the Asian Wrestling Championships and Asian Olympic Qualifiers on March 10 and 11. Both the events are scheduled to take place at Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. One point that stood out in the circular, dated March 5, was that wrestlers who competed at the Jaipur Nationals in February have to bring their licence and other credentials to be eligible to compete. There have been allegations that players from wrestling powerhouses represented different state units.
“Wrestlers participated in Senior National Championship held at Jaipur will bring their WFI Licence Book, Birth Certificate, Adhar Card to verify the genuineness of their state. Several wrestlers, who actually hailed from Haryana, represented states like Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim at the Nationals conducted by the ad-hoc committee in Jaipur. This is wrong and we will now allow this,” said the circular. Another notable criteria was in the Antim Phangal’s weight category, 53kg. She has been given exemption and will fight the winner of the 53kg women’s category during trials that will be organised at a later date. Antim has earned India quota for Paris Olympics.