NEW DELHI: Five out of the 18 Indian wrestlers who participated at the Hangzhou Asian Games last year, have opted out of the
Zagreb Open
after expressing their inability to travel for the meet due to different reasons. The wrestlers include
Bajrang Punia
(65kg),
Pooja Gehlot
(50kg),
Antim Panghal
(53kg),
Mansi Ahlawat
(57kg) and Kiran (76kg).
All these weight categories will go unrepresented at the ranking series tournament, which will be the first international competition for Indian grapplers in 2024. Antim and Kiran won bronze in Hangzhou. Among the Asiad medallists, men's freestyle wrestlers Aman Sehrawat (57kg) and Deepak Punia (86kg), greco-roman wrestler Sunil Kumar (87kg) and women's freestyle division's Sonam Malik (62kg) have given their consent to participate in Zagreb.
The Indian Olympic Association (IOA)-appointed three-member ad-hoc committee - mandated to run the day-to-day affairs of the suspended Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) - set the ball rolling for this year's Paris Olympics after picking a 13-member team for the Zagreb Open - to be held from January 10 to 14. Only the Asian Games participants were considered for selection by the ad-hoc committee and their entries were sent to the organisers after confirming their availability.
According to sources, Antim declined to participate since she was keen on attending the National Sports Day awards function at the Rashtrapati Bhawan on January 9, along with fellow greco-roman grappler Sunil Kumar. Both have been chosen for this year's Arjuna award.
According to a release by ad-hoc committee chairman, Bhupender Singh Bajwa, the team was cleared to fly after issues related to procurement of visas were looked into by the ministry of external affairs (MEA). A total of 25-member Indian wrestling contingent has been cleared for the tournament.
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