Sakshi said that the government is trying to divide the wrestling community by giving direct entry. She claimed on a video uploaded by a news agency that she too had been asked whether she would want a direct entry but she declined. She said that she would always want to compete in trials and earn her berth.
What seems interesting is that Sakshi claimed that she was contacted by 'sarkar' (government) who told her that her name too would be included if she gave them her acceptance in writing. The sports ministry and the Sports Authority of India (SAI) officials, Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) in particular, were very active in sending the protesting wrestlers abroad for training while others did not even have a national camp. There have been instances when SAI used to send athletes for training abroad or even took care of their training at national camps, but this time, for some strange reasons, they have not.
On the other hand, the ad-hoc committee of Bhupender Singh Bajwa, a top Wushu federation official, and shooting national coach, Suma Shirur, who has hardly attended meetings, too did not find it necessary to conduct national camps. Shirur's name too seemed surprising as well because a national coach would hardly have time for other things than shooting. They were happily conducting ‘open trials’. They felt they were giving all wrestlers opportunities. There were no age-group or senior national tournaments either. As pointed out earlier, who is directing the ad-hoc committee? IOA or government, or both? It's an IOA ad-hoc panel and is supposed to be independent.
IOA's top officials and the executive committee apparently were not consulted on quite a few decisions. The IOA clarified its stance on Wednesday and said that there will be a final assessment before the Asian Games. Interestingly, the Worlds are before the Games and it needs to be seen if there is another trial to select the squad for that. In any case, if the ad-hoc committee is taking advice from the sports ministry or SAI, then all failures of governance and decisions until now should be collective. Not just IOA's ad-hoc committee.
Just imagine the plight of the wrestlers. Instead of concentrating on trials in two days' time, they are protesting. The trials in any case cannot be postponed further because the final date of entry is July 23. And if the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) doesn't send names by then there will be no Indian representation in wrestling at the Asian Games. But one thing is for sure. The sport is the one that is suffering and bleeding. What seemed baffling is that all sports administrative bodies — including IOA, SAI and sports ministry — failed to read wrestlers' sentiments while announcing such selection criteria.