Just a day after suspending their protest against the outgoing Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, the protesting Indian wrestlers have expressed their desire to participate in the upcoming Asian Games trials.
The wrestlers decided to suspend their protests following a meeting with the Union Sports Minister Anurag Thakur on Wednesday where they were assured of a thorough investigation into the sexual harassment allegations against Singh.
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Anurag Thakur then announced on Thursday that like the other national federations, they are also planning to finalise their Asian Games squad well before July 15 which is the deadline set by the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA).
On April 27, the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) formed a three-member ad-hoc committee and a two-member ad hoc committee of Bhupender Singh Bajwa and Suma Shirur who were running the day-to-day affairs of the WFI since May 4, will be conducting the trials in the last week of June.
But the top Indian wrestlers who participated in the protest now want some more time in order to prepare themselves for the finals.
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Speaking to PTI, Indian wrestler Satyawart Kadia and husband of Sakshi Malik said,
We want to take part in the selection trial but to prepare for it, we need at least a month and a half of training.
Most of these wrestlers have not been in a competition mode since the World Championships in September 2022 and some of them last participated in the 2022 Commonwealth Games in August last year.
