SAI’s Bajrang Punia bluntly said- ‘Give trials for world championship or show fitness certificate’

The Sports Authority of India (SAI) wants Olympic medalist wrestler Bajrang Punia to appear in the World Championship trials and provide a fitness certificate if he wants to be exempted from this week’s trials in Patiala.

Bajrang is planning to skip the World Championships trials on August 25 and 26. He wants to train abroad to prepare for the Asian Games starting in Hangzhou on September 23.

Bajrang was among six wrestlers to protest at Jantar Mantar against outgoing Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh. Besides him, Commonwealth Games gold medalist Deepak Punia (86kg) is also not keen to compete at the World Championships in Belgrade from September 16.

Deepak also wants to practice abroad for a long time to prepare for the Asian Games. While Bajrang has sent an offer to train in Kyrgyzstan’s Issyk-Kul (August 21-September 28), Deepak wants to train in Khasavyurt (Russia) for five weeks (August 23 to September 28) ahead of the Asian Games.

A SAI official said on the condition of anonymity, “Yes, we have asked Bajrang why he is not participating in the trials for the World Championship. He said that he wants to prepare for the Asian Games and for this he wants to train abroad. However, we have asked him to appear for the trial on August 25 and 26 and leave for abroad on August 27.

The World Championships is the first qualification tournament for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games and the SAI is unhappy that two of the country’s top wrestlers are not willing to participate in the trials and the crucial event. Bajrang, who won a bronze medal in 65kg at the Tokyo Olympics, has sought the services of physiotherapist Anuj Gupta, personal coach Sujit Mann, ‘strength and conditioning’ specialist Qazi Kiran Mustafa Hasan and ‘sparring partner’ Jitendra Kinha, while Deepak has requested the services of coach Kamal Malikov and physiotherapist Shubham Gupta for training.

SAI wants both the wrestlers to first compete in the World Championship trials to prove their fitness and then we are ready to consider their offer for training abroad. The SAI official said, “We have also asked Bajrang to provide his fitness certificate if he has to skip the trials altogether. We have also received their request for support staff. The matter is now with the MOC (Mission Olympic Cell) and they will take a decision on it.

Bajrang and his teammate Kinha have recently returned from Kyrgyzstan after a long training. There was a lot of controversy in the wrestling world over the direct entry of Bajrang and Vinesh Phogat into the Asian Games team. Vinesh, however, pulled out of these games due to injury.

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