Bajrang Punia and Vinesh Phogat
– Photo: Social Media
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The Delhi High Court reserved for Saturday its decision on a plea challenging the exemption granted to top wrestlers Vinesh Phogat and Bajrang Punia from the trials for the Asian Games. Justice Subramaniam Prasad reserved the order on the pleas of U-20 world champion Anvil Panghal and U-23 Asian champion Sujit Kalkal against the direct entry of Vinesh and Bajrang. He said it is not the endeavor of the court to find out who is better. The effort is to see whether the process has been followed or not.
Phogat (53kg) and Punia (65kg) were on Tuesday given direct entry for the Asian Games by the Indian Olympic Association’s (IOA) ad hoc committee, while other wrestlers will have to go through selection trials on July 22 and 23 to confirm their places in the Indian team. Panghal and Kalkal challenged the exemption and demanded a fair selection process. The petition, filed by advocate Hrishikesh Baruah, has sought that the direction issued by the IOA ad-hoc committee in respect of two categories (men’s freestyle 65kg and women’s 53kg) be set aside and the exemption granted to Phogat and Punia be revoked.
Baruah criticized the decision on several grounds, including the fact that the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) general body had in August 2022 withdrawn the provision to exempt players. However, the counsel for the ad-hoc panel handling WFI’s cases said that such a decision was not on the files and the court asked them to file an affidavit in support of their stand. On Thursday, the court had asked the ad-hoc panel handling WFI cases to explain the reasons for exempting Phogat and Punia from the Asian Games trials.