Press "Enter" to skip to content

Twice deferred, camp for Vinesh, Sakshi and other wrestlers start

The Sports Authority of India’s (SAI) centre, which opened almost after seven months here on Monday, saw top Indian wrestlers laughing, jogging, running and even doing light training at the multi-gym for almost two hours, nearly double of what the actual schedule was meant for.

Greetings were exchanged with big smiles and amid it all, Tokyo-Olympic bound Vinesh Phogat marked the beginning of the national camp amid strict guidelines of physical distancing.

All 12 wrestlers as well as nine support staff and coaches have joined. Some were seen jogging and running on the campus with chief coach Kuldeep Malik keeping an eye on everyone’s activities. Some chose to walk on the green lush ground before training with Bulgarian Bag and later at the multipurpose hall.

“All the 12 wrestlers at the camp have been tested corona negative last evening, and they are allowed to start no-contact training from today only. They all looked excited and enjoyed their schedule with enthusiasm,” said an official monitoring the camp.

Four other wrestlers, including Rio Olympics bronze medalist Sakshi Malik along with Lalita, Nisha and Babita are expected to join on October 25. “All four had to follow the process like all the 12 have followed so far. They would also be quarantined for the first seven days and then be allowed for individual training,” said the official.

SAI’s executive director Sanjay Saraswat said he was satisfied with the start of the camp. “Everything started as per the plan and all the campers are happy with the facilities and following the COVID protocols well.”

The camp was postponed twice due to the novel corona virus pandemic and will now continue till December 31. The date to conduct the selection of the Indian team would be decided after November 6 when the world wrestling body takes a final decision about the World Championship currently scheduled for December. But the Wrestling Federation of India is expected to submit a tentative list of participants as the deadline to submit entries is November 5.

Source: HindustanTimes