‘Iconic players’ Bajrang Punia and Vinesh Phogat exempted from selection trials for Asian Games

World Championship medalls Bajrang Punia and Vinesh Phogat, who led the protests against former Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, have been handed an exemption from competing in the selection trials for the Asian Games.
However, the same courtesy has not been extended to other protesting wrestlers, including Sakshi Malik, or reigning Olympic silver medall Ravi Dahiya.
The selection trials for the Asian Games will be held in New Delhi on July 22 and 23, with Greco-Roman and women’s bouts on the first day while men’s freestyle on the next.
The trials will be held in six weight categories in all three formats, including in the classes of Bajrang (65kg) and Vinesh (53kg). However, winners in those two categories will be named as reserves.
There was no update on the selection trials for the World Championship, which will be held days before the Asian Games.
The deadline to submit names for the Asiad is July 23 while for the Worlds, it is August 15.

In its directive for the trials, Bhupinder Singh Bajwa – the member of the ad-hoc committee that’s responsible to discharge day-to-day activities of the WFI – wrote: “As per the WFI Regulations of Selection Trials, the Selection Committee has already selected Wrestlers in the 65 kg (free style) and 53 kg (Women Wrestling) for the Asian Games 2022. But the trial will be held for these weight categories and the selected Wrestlers will be kept on Stand-.”
According to the WFI’s selection policy, which was in place before the federation was stripped off its power in the aftermath of the sexual harassment case against Brij Bhushan, ‘iconic players’ are eligible for an exemption from trials.
“The Selection trials in all weight categories are mandatory,” the guidelines state. “However, the Selection Committee will have the discretion to select the iconic players like medalls of Olympic / World Championship without trials provided recommendation Chief Coach / Foreign Expert.”
While Bajrang won a bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics as well as last year’s World Championship, Vinesh, too, finished on the podium at the 2022 Worlds. However, as per the selection policy rules, Ravi Dahiya, who won a silver medal at the Tokyo Olympics, is also entitled for an exemption.
An ad-hoc committee source said Dahiya was considered for an exemption but his recent injuries raised a question mark over his preparedness. “According to the selection policy, those who have won medals at the last Olympics and World Championship can be directly selected for the Asian Games team. Ravi thus is eligible and his name was discussed. But coaches and members of the committee felt since he has been dealing with injuries, a trial was necessary in his category. At the same time, Bajrang and Vinesh were the only ones to win a medal at the last World Championship,” the source said.
According to the ad hoc committee directive, wrestlers who won medals at the 2022 Senior National Championship, Open Ranking Tournaments, National Games, the Under-23 and Under-20 World as well as Asian Championship, those who took part in the Tokyo Olympics and the top-three finishers of the senior, under-20 and under-23 selection trials held this year will be allowed to take part in the trials. State federations, too, can nominate wrestlers for the trials.

Bajrang and Vinesh are currently training outside India, in Kyrgyzstan and Hungary respectively.