Lucknow : The Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) on Monday selected eight women grapplers for the World Championships to be held in Las Vegas from September 7 to 12.
The WFI’s selection committee picked the grapplers during the selection trials conducted at the Sports Authority of India (SAI) Centre here.
Among the selected wrestlers, Olympian Geeta Phogat (58 kg) of Haryana, who won the bronze medal at the World Championships in 2012, will be aiming for a different colour of medal this time.
Commonwealth Games 2014 gold medallist Vinesh from Haryana will also be vying for a podium finish in the 48 kg category. CWG 2014 silver medallist Lalita, from Railway Sports Promotion Board, has been selected for the first time in the 55 kg category.
In the 53 kg category, Nirmala Devi is only selected for the Kazakhstan Tournament as she will have to give final trial against Babita before the World Championships. CWG 2014 medallist Babita Kumari couldn’t participate in the trials due to injury.
The selection committee comprised of WFI president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, WFI secretary general V.N. Prasood, WFI executive committee member Rekha Yadav, chief coach A.N. Yadav and foreign coach Roin Doboriginidze.
“Our women wrestlers have been working very hard on various aspects of the game at the national camp which is already underway at SAI Centre in Lucknow since November 2014. The International Wrestling Tournament in Kazakhstan will be an ideal opportunity for our Indian women’s team to get international exposure before going into World Championship,” WFI chief Bhushan said in a release.
The federation has decided to send this eight-member team to Kazakhstan to participate in the International Wrestling Tournament to be held from July 24 to 27. The training camp of female wrestlers started here from November 2014 and will continue till their departure for the World Championships.
The squad: 48 kg: Vinesh (Haryana), 53 kg: Nirmala Devi (Haryana), 55 kg: Lalita (RSPB), 58 kg: Geeta Phogat (Haryana), 60 kg: Sarita (Haryana), 63 kg: Anita (Haryana), 69 kg: Navjot (RSPB), 75 kg: Nikki (Haryana).