In a dress rehearsal for the Asian Championships to be held in Amman, Jordan, nearly 10 Railways wrestlers, including Paris Olympian Antim Panghal (53 kg), Vishal Kaliraman (70 kg) and Sagar Jaglan (86 kg) are set to participate in the Federation Cup, slated to run from March 8 in Jalandhar.
Udit and Sujeet Kalkal are also among the elite wrestlers to participate at this year’s Federation Cup while Aman and Tokyo Olympian Deepak Punia are likely to skip the event.
The senior age group event will be held in — freestyle, Greco-Roman style and women wrestling categories — at the Lovely Professional University, Punjab on Saturday and Sunday.
In this edition, wrestlers will represent their respective states, a criteria which was ‘not allowed’ in the last edition.
The WFI has handed quotas and given wildcard entries to states for the competition based on their performance at the 2024 National Championships.
“There were times when the WFI didn’t allow Railway wrestlers to represent their respective states in its tournaments. I had once requested the federation to allow Railway wrestlers to compete in an U23 tournament but it went in vain. As RSPB doesn’t field teams in the age-group tournaments, those wrestlers were seeking permission to represent their states but were not allowed. More than a dozen wrestlers had suffered due to it. The latest change is a welcome sign and it will be a big relief for Railway wrestlers,” Kripashankar Patel, Railway coach, told the New Indian Express.
There is an ongoing rift between the Railways and WFI which led to plenty of wrestlers from the former team to not participate at the 2025 National Games held in Uttarakhand recently.
As per the New Indian Experess, the RSPB secretary Prem Chand Lochab had then written a letter to the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) president PT Usha.
“It is pertinent to mention that after suspension of WFI, the chances of RSPB’s wrestlers for participation in recognised national level tournaments as also their chances of selection for participation in international championships are significantly reduced. In view of the above, it is requested to kindly permit RSPB for sending its wrestling team/wrestlers to participate in the upcoming 38th National Games 2025,” the letter dated December 26 read.
The top three wrestlers from each weight categories and medalists from the National Championships, last year, will compete in the talent hunt from which the team for the Asian Championships will be chosen.