The Wrestling Federation of India has allowed three of the four Phogat sisters – Ritu, Geeta and Sangeeta – to enter the national camp for the Asian Games after initially axing them on grounds of indiscipline.
This has also opened the door for the three wrestlers to appear for the selection trials for the Asian Games 2018 to be held in Jakarta and Palembang in August.
The federation, however, continued to bar Babita Kumari Phogat along with four other women wrestlers and a male wrestler from training at the national camps at the Sports Authority of India’s centres in Lucknow and Sonepat.
The WFI had initially handed suspensions on the grounds that these wrestlers had not turned up at their respective camps on time. A shortage of sparring partners had seen the federation struggle to ensure an adequate amount of bouts for the campers.
The WFI’s decision comes on the backdrop of a disciplinary hearing on Wednesday, which had been preceded by the wrestlers submitting written explanations for their absence, according to a report in the Times of India.
Babita Phogat did not have the same luck as her three siblings as the WFI maintained that she had not come up with a suitable clarification for missing the women’s camp in Lucknow. Earlier, Babita had clarified that she was nursing injuries in both her knees, which led to her no-show.
She had spoken about heading to Bengaluru for rehabilitation therapy at JSW Sports’ facilities but the federation’s decision means that Babita will not be allowed to take part in the selection trials for what would have been her second Asian Games.
The president of WFI, Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, speaking to the paper, confirmed the same and added that out of the 15 wrestlers who were issued showcause notices, six will not be re-joining the camps, either in Lucknow or the men’s freestyle and Greco-Roman camp at SAI, Sonepat.
These names include the CWG silver-medallist in the women’s 53 kg category, Babita, Pooja Tomar and Manju (62kg), Anju (65kg), Kamini (72kg) and men’s freestyle wrestler Shravan (61kg).
India had won five medals in wrestling at the 2014 Asian Games, one gold, one silver and three bronze.
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