CHENNAI: Star wrestlers Bajrang Punia (65kg) and Vinesh Phogat (53kg) along with Jitender Kinha (74kg) and Somvir Rathi (92kg) will skip the Individual World Cup in Belgrade from December 12 to 18. Returning to the national fold for the first time after a doping scandal is Narsingh Yadav, a former World Championship medallist.
While Bajrang has preferred to train in the USA with his coach Shako Bentinidis, Vinesh decided to give it a miss citing lack of competition. The Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) has not named replacements, except for Narsingh, who will compete in 74kg in place of Jitender.
"We cannot conduct selection trials, so we have decided to send those who competed in the Asian Championships in New Delhi in February," Vinod Tomar, WFI's assistant secretary, told this daily. Indian wrestlers won a record-breaking 20 medals in the Asian event, which was also their last international outing before the lockdown.
The Belgrade tournament will be a comeback of sorts for Maharashtra grappler Narsingh after he was barred from participating in the 2016 Rio Olympics, a day before his bout. He was eventually banned for four years on doping charges. The 31-year-old completed the ban in August and made a return to the national camp, which resumed in September.
Speaking on those who will be participating in the World Cup, Tomar said, "Bajrang requested us to allow him to train in the USA. It has been approved. Vinesh feels elite wrestlers in her division will skip the meet, so she is not going. Somvir is nursing an injury while Jitender may go to the USA with Bajrang. Only Narisngh has been named as a replacement for Jitender, while other categories will go unrepresented."
Participants have been asked to reach Belgrade by December 10. The event will begin with competitions in the Greco-Roman category followed by women's wrestling and men's freestyle. This competition is a substitute for the World Championships, which was scheduled in the same place at the same time before being cancelled due to the pandemic.
While the men's national camp for Greco-Roman and freestyle wrestlers is going on at SAI, Sonepat, the women grapplers didn't join the camp in Lucknow after the Diwali break. They have been asked to train at their respective places. "We have started the visa process. Once it is done, we will inform the wrestlers about the travel plan," signed off Tomar.