New Delhi: The Ad-hoc Committee for Wrestling constituted by the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) announced on Monday that the National Wrestling camps for men and women will kick off in Sonepat and Patiala starting from February 9. With the Asian Olympics Qualifying and World Qualifying tournaments around the corner, the camps will begin almost immediately after the conclusion of the senior National Championships in Jaipur on February 5.
After the government's request, the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) created the three-member panel to manage the day-to-day affairs of the body after the newly-elected Sanjay Singh-led Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) was suspended by the Sports Ministry within three days of the polls. "Following the conclusion of the Senior National Championships, the National Coaching Camp (NCC) will be conducted. The men's camp (Greco-Roman and free-style) will be stationed at Sports Authority of India (SAI) Northern Regional Centre, Sonepat, while the women's camp will be held at SAI Netaji Subhas National Institute of Sports, Patiala (NSNIS)," said Bajwa in a statement.
The national camp will select medalists in 30 weight divisions across senior freestyle, Greco-Roman, and women's categories for the Senior Nationals in Jaipur, which are being organised by the Railway Sports Promotion Board from February 2 to 5. "The camp will extend until the 2024 Paris Olympics and its primary focus would be to train the grapplers for the upcoming Olympic Qualifying tournaments.
"These tournaments include the 2024 Asian Qualification Tournament set to be held in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, from April 19-21, and the 2024 World Qualification Tournament scheduled for May 9-12, 2024 in Istanbul, Turkey," added Bajwa. Besides, the national camp will help prepare wrestlers for the Senior Asian Championships to take place in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, from April 11-16.
The national camps across age groups were disrupted for a major part of last year due to the agitation by top wrestlers in the country, including Olympic medallists Bajrang Punia, Sakshi Malik and World Championship medallist Vinesh Phogat against former WFI president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh for his alleged sexual harassment of women grapplers.
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