The Wrestling Federation of India, on Tuesday, announced that no national trials will be conducted to select the country’s contingent for the upcoming 2024 Paris Olympics. This development comes after an executive committee meeting of the national body.
The absence of trials means that the six grapplers who had won quotas for Paris will represented the country at the quadrennial event.
The country’s national federation previously used to send the quota winners to the Olympics until a change was made to keep the qualified athletes on their toes in 2021.
The latest decision comes after multiple qualified wrestlers, including the lone men’s freestyle star Aman Sehrawat, along with Nisha Dahiya and Reetika Hooda had requested the federation to not conduct fresh trials and let them focus on their preparations for the Games.
The decision also means that Vinesh Phogat, who had led the protest against erstwhile wrestling federation president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, will not have the opportunity to challenge the young Antim Pangal in women’s 53kg and will have to compete in the 50kg weight category in Paris.
Phogat had, in fact, made a social media post requesting the federation and the Sports Authority of India to announce the official date, time, venue, and format of the trials last week.
The decision also brings an end to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics silver medallist Ravi Dahiya’s hopes of qualifying for a second consecutive Games appearance.
The Paris Olympics are scheduled to begin on July 26.
Indian wrestling contingent for 2024 Paris Olympics
Men: Aman Sehrawat (57kg)
Women: Vinesh Phogat (50kg), Antim Panghal (53kg), Anshu Malik (57kg), Nisha Dahiya (68kg), Reetika Hooda (76kg)
