The Wrestling Federation of India on Saturday announced that the trials to select the men’s and women’s freestyle team for World Championship will be held on July 26 and 28 in Sonipat and Lucknow respectively. The Greco-Roman team that will represent India in the Kazakhstan event has already been selected.
The World Championships in Kazakhstan in September is the first qualifying tournament for the Tokyo Olympics.
The trials will only be held in the six Olympic weight categories and the trials for remaining four weight categories will be held later in August.
The trials to select the men’s freestyle team will be held at Sports Authority of India centre in Bhalgarh on Friday. The six weight categories are 57 kg, 65 kg, 74 kg, 86 kg, 97 kg, 125 kg.
At SAI centre Lucknow, the women will be fighting for a spot in the 50 kg, 53 kg, 57 kg, 62 kg, 68 kg and 76 kg weight categories. Even in the women’s categories, the trials for four non-Olympic weight classes will be held later in August.
The federation added that any wrestler who was named in the national camp but has skipped it will not be allowed to take part in the trials.
However, WFI is likely to allow two-time Olympic medallist Sushil Kumar, who recently finished his training in Russia, to be part of the trials. Sushil has not been part of the national camp since this year.
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