CHENNAI: A couple of Greco-Roman wrestlers, who missed out on a chance to compete at the U23 World Championships due to non-issuance of visas by the US Embassy on grounds of age and employment status, may get an opportunity to make it to the senior Worlds squad by competing in selection trials. Women wrestlers, too, may get a similar opportunity if the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) are unable to procure their visas for the USA event. A decision in this regard will be taken by the federation on Monday.
The U23 Worlds is scheduled in Las Vegas, USA from October 12 to 18 while the Senior World Championships will be held in Astana, Kazakhstan from October 24 to November 1.
A total of five men Greco-Roman and as many women wrestlers were refused visas by the Embassy a few days ago. Two out of five GR wrestlers — Samarth Gajanan Mhakave (60kg) and Dheeraj Kumar Malik (77kg) — are now in line to compete against selected wrestlers in their respective weight categories for the Worlds. "Harsh from Delhi and Luvepreet Singh of RSPB won the trials held to select the team for the senior World Championships in 60kg and 77kg respectively. The WFI will have a discussion and if a consensus is reached then each of these two wrestlers will be asked to compete in a bout for final selection," a WFI official told this daily.
Notably, Sumit Dalal and Aman represented the country in 60kg and 77kg, respectively at the 2026 Asian Games. Both returned without a medal from Japan even as other two Greco-Roman wrestlers, Nitesh Siwach (97kg) and Sunil Kumar (87kg) won a silver and a bronze, respectively. Two others in the national squad were withdrawn before the event because of alleged doping violations.
In the women's category, 50kg and 62kg weight categories could have selection trials. Parveen and Neha were selected for the U23 Worlds but so far, they have not been granted visas. "The federation is hoping that all remaining women wrestlers will get visas before commencement of their bouts. If not, Parveen (50kg) and Neha (62kg) could get a chance to have a bout each against their respective opponents," added the official.