CHENNAI: Indian Railways' wrestlers were allegedly not allowed to participate in the trials held in Rohtak, Haryana on Tuesday to select the state team for the U-23 nationals.
More than 10 freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestlers wanted to appear in the trials and represent Haryana as Railways do not field teams in the event.
Incidentally, the city is going to host the three-day U-15 and U-20 Federation Cup starting Wednesday.
The annual general meeting of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) is also scheduled at the venue on Thursday. The U-23 nationals is scheduled in Kochi in the first week of September.
Those allegedly denied participation also include international medallists. Greco-Roman wrestler Sajan Bhanwal, who last month won 82kg bronze at the Zouhaier Sghaier Tournament Ranking Series, in Tunisia, is one among them.
"Yes, I was not allowed to compete in the trials. We were told that we can compete only if Railways field their team in the event," Sajan told this daily.
The Haryana wrestler represented his state in the 2021 U-23 nationals held in Amethi, Uttar Pradesh.
He had finished on top of the podium in the tournament. Sajan also won 77kg bronze in the U-23 Asian Championship this year. He had also bagged three consecutive medals at the Junior Worlds in the past (bronze in 2017, silver in 2018 and bronze in 2019).
Praveen Malik was another wrestler who was forced to miss the trials.
"I wanted to compete in the 74kg freestyle trials but was not allowed. There were other wrestlers as well from Railways who were denied participation," he said.
Kripa Shankar Patel, former India international and Railways coach, said he apprised the host association and WFI of the issue but it could not be resolved.
"I spoke to the Harayana Wrestling Association secretary Rakesh Singh but it went in vain. I have also spoken to the WFI assistant secretary Vinod Tomar and he assured me the wrestlers cannot be denied a chance to compete in the trials for the U-23 nationals but the ground reality was completely different as more than 10 wrestlers from Railways were not allowed to compete in the trials on Tuesday," said Patel.
The Haryana association general secretary, however, said confusion might have led to a fiasco.
"We do not have any specific instruction (for not allowing Railways' wrestlers to compete) from the WFI. We allowed everyone to compete. I think there must be some kind of confusion," said Singh.
The WFI, however, admitted that it has decided not to allow Railways' wrestlers to compete in the Federation Cup representing their respective states. "In the past, a few Railways wrestlers were found to be involved in corrupt practices during such events. While representing their respective states, they had conceded the bouts against their Railways counterparts. Such practice takes the sheen out of the event. We wanted the Federation Cup to be fair and competitive so we decided not to allow any teams from boards (Services and Railways) to take part in the Federation Cup," WFI assistant secretary Tomar said.
Speaking on the U-23 Kochi nationals, he said, "The Railways' wrestlers can represent their respective states by qualifying in the selection trials and we have instructed all the member units to allow them to take part in the trials."
Tomar also affirmed that the trials in Rohtak on Tuesday were organised only for wrestlers, who were out of the country participating in various international events and thus missed the chance to qualify for the events.
It is learnt that Haryana had already organised state championships a few days ago to pick its team for U-23 nationals but even there the Railways' wrestlers were not allowed to compete.