NEW DELHI: The Ad Hoc committee for wrestling discipline announced a 13-member team for the Zagreb Open Wrestling tournament in Croatia from January 10 to 14. Visa formalities for 25 members, including athletes and support staff, expedited with Ministry of External Affairs assistance.
Bhupinder Singh Bajwa, head of the ad-hoc panel, stated, “Thanks to a timely intervention by the Ministry of External Affairs, the 25 Indians due to travel to Zagreb will complete the visa formalities on Wednesday. The team was facing difficulty in securing a visa appointment. However, the Ministry of External Affairs has helped the team in this regard.”
IOA’s Ad Hoc Wrestling Committee in action!
The Committee is planning to organize the national championships for the U-15 and U-20 categories within the next 6 weeks at LNIPE, Gwalior.
Also, selects 13-member Indian team for Zagreb Open Wrestling on Jan 10-14. #Wrestling…
— The New Indian (@TheNewIndian_in) January 3, 2024
“We have taken every step to ensure that the team reaches Zagreb well in time for the tournament. We have ensured that India’s Olympic hopefuls would compete in their respective weight class along with a 2 kg weight allowance in the first ranking event of the Olympic year.”
The committee schedules the senior national championships for February 2024 and organises national camps at SAI NRC Sonepat and SAI NSNIS Patiala for men and women, respectively.
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The focus is on preparation for Olympic Qualifying tournaments and the Senior Asian Championships. Asian Olympic Qualifiers are set for Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, from April 19-21, 2024, while the World Olympic Qualifiers are scheduled for Istanbul, Turkey, from May 9-12.
The committee has taken all these initiatives within just a short span of one week. The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) established the Ad Hoc Committee for Wrestling discipline on December 27, 2023.
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This decision followed Olympian and bronze medallist Sakshi Mallik’s retirement announcement from the sport during Sanjay Singh’s presidency. In January, a protest at Jantar Mantar by wrestlers demanding Brij Bhushan’s resignation went unanswered, with no action taken at that time.
