KOLKLATA: As many as 15 Indian women wrestlers along with five support staff and three referees left Tirana, Albania on Wednesday morning for Istanbul, Turkey. They got stuck in Tirana due to the US-Israeli war with Iran. The group was supposed to leave Tirana on Sunday but their stopover in Dubai meant their flight got cancelled.
The women wrestlers went to Albania to compete in the second Ranking Series. The competition started with bouts in men's Freestyle wrestling. The men wrestlers returned after their competition but women grapplers got stranded there as the global crisis deepened.
India women won three silver medals and two bronze in the competition. Priyanshi Prajapat (50kg), Meenakshi (53kg) and Neha (57kg) finished second in their respective weight categories while Muskan (50kg) and Savita (62kg) returned with a bronze each. Earlier, Sujeet Kalkal clinched the gold medal in the 65kg weight category.
Women's wrestling team head coach Virender Dahiya said that they have reached Istanbul. "We left Tirana in the morning boarding a Turkish Airlines flight for Istanbul. Right now we all are in Istanbul and will fly out for Almaty, Kazakhstan at 9:10PM local time boarding a flight from the same airlines. In the morning at around 7AM, we will board a JSC Air Astana flight for New Delhi. The expected time of arrival in the national capital is around 11:10AM," Dahiya told this daily from Istanbul Airport.
Dahiya once again thanked Wrestling Federation of India and its former president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh for taking good care of them during their stay in Tirana. "Brij Bhushan sir transferred around Rs 4 lakh to my account for accommodation, food and other expenses. The WFI also helped us find a good hotel. We never faced any issue there, all thanks to WFI," the coach reiterated.
Meanwhile, the Greco-Roman wrestlers, whose competition started after the women's wrestling, along with their support staff are still in Tirana. It was learnt that they will also fly out of Albania on Thursday and follow the same route as taken by the women wrestlers. Lalit from the country was the lone wrestler to medal at the event as he finished with a bronze medal in the 55kg weight category.
"The flights for the Greco-Roman wrestlers and their support staff have also been booked. They will also follow the route we have taken. They will fly out on Thursday morning," signed off Dahiya.