CHENNAI: Priya Malik and Udit had won a gold medal each in the U-20 Asian Championships which concluded at Amman City, Jordan on July 20. The best junior wrestlers in Asia, however, failed to finish on the podium at the Asian Games selection trials which got over in New Delhi on Sunday.
Priya, arguably the best 76kg woman wrestler in the country, lost in the quarterfinal on Saturday while Udit had to be stretchered off the mat after sustaining a serious injury during his first bout on Sunday afternoon.
And they are not the only medallists from the U-20 continental championships to return empty-handed from the trials. Jaskaran Singh from Punjab, who clinched 65kg gold in the tournament, skipped the trials thus jeopardising his chance of competing in the World Championships trials scheduled next month.
Notably, the ad-hoc committee running the sport in the country, has decided to allow only top-4 wrestlers from each Olympic weight category of three styles to compete in the Worlds trials. The panel has given two elite wrestlers direct entry to Asian Games and said on record that its was done to avoid injuries.
A few top grapplers from the country including Antim Panghal, who won 53kg trials and subsequently included in the national squad for Asiad as a substitute to Vinesh Phogat, had earlier decided to skip the U-20 Asian event given the short gap between the two intense competitions.
"A wrestler needs at least two-week time to recover after a big tournament. The first week after the tournament is supposed to be an interval period where he/she should do only warm-up and light exercises. Here they didn't even get a few days to recover. And that's visible when Udit suffered serious injury during his first bout. The ad-hoc committee should take the blame for depriving these youngsters a chance to qualify for the Asian Games by scheduling the trials so near to the international competition," Mahabir Prasad, former national coach, told this daily.
It is learnt that the U-20 men's freestyle team returned from Jordan only a couple of days back. Apart from Udit, Mukul Dahiya grabbed 86kg gold and Rajat Ruhal secured 97kg bronze in the Asian meet. The duo, however, failed to impress in the selection trials.
Aarju, 68kg, also met the same fate in women's wrestling as she couldn't qualify despite securing bronze in the international event a few days ago. "Jaskaran didn't compete as he reached the country only a couple of days ago and couldn't recover," RS Kundu, Punjab wrestling association secretary, told this daily.
18-hour journey back home
Priya won the Asian gold medal on July 17 and left Amman City at 2 am on July 19. She along with her teammates had to check out from the hotel at 10 pm on July 18. They landed at the Delhi Airport at 3:30 pm on July 19. These wrestlers also had a three-hour lay-off in Dubai. After reaching the national capital, Priya undertook a four-hour long journey by road to Nidani village of Jind district in Haryana.
The tiresome journey meant she could reach home only at 8 pm. "The next day I couldn't do anything as I was tired after almost an 18-hour-long journey. The women's trials were scheduled on July 22 so we left the village the previous day. It certainly affected my performance during the trials," Priya told this daily.
Priya,18, had won a bronze at the Senior Asian Championships this year. Last year, she bagged a silver medal each at the U-20 Worlds and Asian Championships. She had also clinched the sub-junior Worlds gold twice.
Meanwhile, those who skipped the U-20 Asian Championships didn't fare better as only Antim among them could win the trials. Others like Jaideep (74kg) and Sujeet Kalkal (65kg) suffered losses to bow out of the competition.