Sports News | 13-member Indian Wrestling Team Announced for Zagreb Open
Get latest articles and stories on Sports at LatestLY. The ad-hoc panel governing the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) on Tuesday announced a 13-member team for the upcoming Zagreb Open in Croatia after issues related to procurement of visas had been looked into.
New Delhi, Jan 2 (PTI) The ad-hoc panel governing the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) on Tuesday announced a 13-member team for the upcoming Zagreb Open in Croatia after issues related to procurement of visas had been looked into.
The first world ranking tournament in the Croatian capital will be held from January 10 to 14.
The WFI is being run by a three-member committee constituted by the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) after the Sports Ministry suspended the Sanjay Singh-led newly-elected sports federation owing to violation of its own constitution.
The ad-hoc panel is being headed by Bhupinder Singh Bajwa.
"Thanks to a timely intervention by the Ministry of External Affairs, the 25 Indians due to travel to Zagreb will complete the visa formalities on Wednesday," Bajwa said in a press release issued on Tuesday.
"The team was facing difficulty in securing a visa appointment. However, the Ministry of External Affairs has helped the team in this regard."
The ad-hoc committee chairman said the Croatian Wrestling Federation Secretary-General Tin Bregovic had sent a letter of invitation for the 13 wrestlers, nine coaching and support staff and three referees.
"We have taken every step to ensure that the team reaches Zagreb well in time for the tournament," Bajwa said.
"We have ensured that India's Olympic hopefuls would compete in their respective weight class along with a 2kg weight allowance in the first ranking event of the Olympic year," he said.
"We are confident that the 13 who will compete in Zagreb will make the most of the chance to prepare for the Asian Qualification tournament in April and the World Qualification tournament in May."
The team:
Men Freestyle: Aman (57kg); Yash (74kg), Deepak Punia (86kg), Vicky (97kg) and Sumit (125kg).
Greco-Roman: Gyanender (60kg), Neeraj (67kg), Vikas (77kg), Sunil Kumar (87kg), Narinder Cheema (97kg) and Naveen (130kg).
Women: Sonam (62kg) and Radhika (68kg).
Coaching and support staff: Kuldeep Singh (team leader and coach), Vinod Kumar, Sujeet, Shashi Bhushan Prasad, Manoj Kumar, Virender Singh and Alka Tomar (coaches); Vishal Kumar Rai (physiotherapist) and Neeraj (masseur).
Referees: Satya Dev Malik, Dinesh Dhondiba Gund and Sanjay Kumar.
(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)