The policy was approved at WFI’s recent General Council meeting during the National Championships in Ahmedabad
New Delhi: The Wrestling Federation of India’s (WFI) new selection policy has made attendance at national camps mandatory for selection to the national team thereby prohibiting wrestlers from training independently.
The policy was approved at WFI’s recent General Council meeting during the National Championships in Ahmedabad.
“Participation in the National Coaching Camp is mandatory for all wrestlers, including elite and iconic athletes. To be eligible for the camp, a wrestler must have won a medal in the National Championship of the concerned year,” the policy under the sub-head National Coaching Camps, stated.
“Once selected, wrestlers are required to train exclusively at the designated national camp. No athlete is permitted to train independently at any other venue,” it added.
The policy made it clear that a failure to attend the camp will make the wrestler “ineligible to participate in the selection trials”. It also made a provision to keep a list of a reserve wrestler, who will be asked to compete in case of an injury to the selected athlete.
The new policy means that double Worlds medallist Vinesh Phogat, who recently announced her comeback from retirement, will have to prove herself at the domestic level before being considered for a spot in the national team.
The policy also makes selection trials mandatory for teams representing India in major international competitions such as Olympic Games, Asian Games, Continental Championships and World Championships.
The objective of the trials is to provide fair opportunity, assessment of form and fitness, transparency, accountability and merit-based representation.
The WFI asserted that Olympic quotas are awarded to the nation and not to individual athletes and it reserves the right to conduct trials for Olympic participation.
The quota winner will not compete in the initial trials and will fight it out with the winner of the trials and if he/she loses, will be given a second chance to reclaim the quota.
The selection committee will be headed by the WFI president. It will also include the Secretary General or Vice President and will have either a Dronacharya/Arjuna/Dhyanchand awardee apart from chief coach of that discipline and the foreign coach.
Apart from this, the chief coach can recommend barring a wrestler from trials on count of indiscipline or poor attendance. The selection committee may uphold the recommendation and WFI reserves the right to take disciplinary action against wrestlers found overweight during international competition.
The WFI had recently banned Paris Games bronze medallist Aman Sehrawat for being overweight before lifting the suspension.
