Sakshi Malik, Anshu Malik, Pooja Sihag, and others opt out of World Wrestling Championships trials amid tragedy

Lucknow: Wrestling Federation of India’s (WFI) trials for the upcoming World Championships will start on a tragic note on Monday here as Commonwealth Games bronze medallist Pooja Sihag lost her husband Ajay Nandal to an alleged drug overdose on Sunday in Hisar. The trials will also take place without Commonwealth Games gold medallist Sakshi Malik and silver medallist Anshu Malik, who have opted out due to injuries.

“The news shocked and affected everyone at the camp,” said WFI chief coach Jitender Singh. “Pooja (Sihag) is a bright girl and can’t believe something like this happened to her after she earned recognition through the Commonwealth Games medal. She was just promoted to SHO in Rajasthan Police, everything was going good for her and this tragic incident happened. I hope she recovers from this personal loss soon and returns to the mat.”

25-year-old Sihag’s bronze medal in Birmingham rejuvenated her career after she missed out on Tokyo Olympics qualification last year. She did bag the Asian Championship bronze in

Among other major names missing from the trials are CWG bronze medallists Divya Kakran and Pooja Gehlot owing to injuries and lack of preparations due to various felicitation ceremonies post-Birmingham Games.

While Rio Olympic medallist Sakshi, who competes in 62kg,  confirmed to Firstpost that she won’t be taking part in the trials, Gehlot (50kg) and Anshu (57kg) informed WFI of elbow injuries.

“Among big names, Sakshi and Anshu won’t participate in the trials due to injuries. Also, multiple felicitation ceremonies didn’t allow any of them enough time to prepare for the trials,” said WFI chief coach Jitendra Singh. “Sakshi said she has a back pain while Anshu has an elbow injury. Even Pooja Gehlot has complained of elbow injury while Divya Kakran has also complained of a backache.”

For Anshu the situation is grave as she underwent elbow surgery recently and will stay away from the mat for the next.

“She is on bed rest for the next one and a half months after surgery,” said Anshu’s father Dharamvir. “She will resume light training after that but won’t return to the mat for a month after that. We are aiming to participate in World Cup  (10-11 December in the USA) now.”

Anshu’s absence opens up an opportunity for Sarita Mor, who has switched to the 57kg category from her forte 59kgm where she is ranked world No, 1. However, the 27-year-old wrestler is expected to face a challenge from Sangita Phogat in the trials on Monday. In the 57kg, Sakshi missing out means Sonam will fancy her chances of qualifying for the toughest competition in the calendar year after losing to Sakshi in the CWG trials early in the season.

Vinesh vs Antim, the highlight

However, the focus will be firm on Vinesh Phogat in the 53kg wrestler on the day as after her CWG triumph, the 28-year-old wrestler will arguably face her toughest opponent so far this year in a  17-year-old Antim Panghal.

This is the second time the duo will be at loggerhead as Vinesh survived a scare against the teenager during the CWG trials earlier this year, Vinesh won by the virtue of a bigger point after the scores were locked 3-3. In Vinesh’s defence, this was the first time the grappler was competing since her Tokyo Olympics debacle in 2021.

Since the second round bout in May’s trials, Vinesh completed her hat-trick of gold medals at the CWG while Antim scripted history by becoming the first Indian woman+ to win a gold medal in the U-20 World Championship in the first week of the month.

The women’s chief coach Jitendra, however, is uncertain if the duo will compete in the same category.

“It’s likely that they will compete in the same category but we don’t know yet. It’s a much-awaited clash among the duo but we will get to know only tomorrow if they will compete in the same category or not,” speculated the senior coach.

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