Senior national wrestling camps to be held after over a year

The Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) is gearing up for the senior National camp after almost 15 months with Delhi likely to replace Patiala as the venue because of the ongoing farmers' protest.

The WFI-organised National camps are on hold since January 2023 when the country's three elite wrestlers accused then WFI president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh of sexual harassment, a controversy that pegged back Indian wrestling.

The ad-hoc panel, which was entrusted with managing the day-to-day affairs due to the suspension of the WFI, had started the training camp for men (Rohtak) and women (Patiala) after conducting its own Nationals in Jaipur.

The WFI, after United World Wrestling (UWW) lifted its suspension, announced the trials to select the nationals teams for the Asian Wrestling Championships in Bishkek (April 11-16) and the Continental Olympic Qualifier in the Kyrgyzstan capital (April 19-21).

"After we conduct these trials, the top-four in each category will be invited to be part of the National camp," WFI president Sanjay Singh told PTI.

"We have not yet finalised the venues for the camps," the sports administrator from Varanasi, added.

It has been learnt that the SAI centres in Sonepat will, as usual, be the venue for the men's camp and Delhi's IG Stadium could host the women's camp.

"The Lucknow SAI centre is out of question and we have to choose between Patiala and Delhi. As of today, the restriction on movement in and around of Punjab will make it a bit inconvenient for everyone to reach Patiala. So, probably, we can request the government to provide the IG Stadium for the women's camp," said a WFI source.