Wrestlers Soman, Seema to skip Olympics camp in Warsaw

Photo for representational purpose. Picture Courtesy/iStock

Injured women wrestlers Sonam Malik and Seema Bisla will skip a month long Olympic training-cum-exposure camp in Warsaw, Poland, starting on Monday.
"Since Sonam and Seema are on the injured list, only three wrestlers -- Ravi Dahiya, Deepak Punia and Anshu Malik -- will leave for Poland on Saturday," a wrestling coach associated with the camp told IANS.

The camp will end on July 5. Sonam and Seema have qualified for the Olympics in the 62kg and 50kg freestyle events, respectively. They are currently training at their home akahras in Haryana, and are expected to regain full fitness and compete at the Olympics. While Dahiya has qualified Olympics in the men's 57kg freestyle, Punia will compete in the men's 86kg freestyle category. Anshu has got Olympic quota in the women's 57 kg freestyle event.

"Punia, Anshu, and Dahiya will also compete in the World Ranking Series in Warsaw from June 8-13. After the competition, the wrestlers will also attend a camp to prepare for the Olympics," said the coach. Star wrestler Bajrang Punia, who has qualified in the men's 65 kg freestyle event, will train in Russia to prepare for the Olympics.

"He will also skip the Poland camp as well as World Ranking Series in Warsaw. But Vinesh Phogat, who has qualified made it to the Olympics in women's 53kg freestyle event, has desired to compete in Warsaw. She is currently training in Hungary," the coach said. After the ranking series, the Indian team will attend the Warsaw coaching camp, being organised by the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI). The Indian team will return home in the first week of July.

The Tokyo Olympic Games are scheduled to start on July 23. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Sports Authority of India had in April closed both the men and women's wrestling camps in Sonepat and Lucknow respectively. The WFI has recently sent a fresh proposal to SAI for organising the camp for those who have qualified for the Olympics, but it wasn't approved.

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