U23 Asian champion Sujeet Kalkal raises objection on exemption granted to Bajrang Punia for Asian Games

Vinesh Phogat and Punia were the only wrestlers to be given exemption.

Reigning U-23 Asian champion Sujeet Kalkal questioned Indian Olympic Association (IOA)-appointed ad-hoc committee's move of granting direct entries to Bajrang Punia and Vinesh Phogat for Hangzhou Asian Games. The ad-hoc committee, which currently runs the WFI (Wrestling Federation of India) came out with a statement that the above-mentioned wrestlers will be given exemption from the Asian Games trials, scheduled to be held from July 22 to 23.

Sujeet Kalkal stated, "I had wrestled with Bajrang Punia a year back during the Commonwealth Games trials which was very close. During the trials, Bajrang was handed a direct semi-finals entry and we had to contest in all the bouts. Also, Bajrang was given direct entry into the World Championships 2022 without any trial. The American wrestler Yianni Diakomihalis against whom Bajrang lost (0-10), I have beaten him at the World Ranking series 8-2."

Earlier, Antim Panghal raised her objections on granting direct entries to wrestlers without any trials. The U-20 World Wrestling Championships gold medalist won the National Games last year and secured the silver medal at the Asian Wrestling Championships earlier this year - both in the senior category. With Vinesh qualifying directly, the upcoming youngster will have to be on standby even if she wins the trials in 53kg category.

Several wrestlers and coaches alongside Kalkal and Antim Panghal have raised their issues on this matter. Other Olympians in the fray - Ravi Dahiya, Sakshi Malik, and Deepak Punia were not given direct entries to the Asiads rather have to qualify by winning the trials. Both Ravi and Sakshi have won medals at the Olympics and there isn't any concrete reason as to why they weren't selected.