Asian Games 2023 wrestling trials: Is Antim Panghal worthy rival for Vinesh Phogat?

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India's preparations and selection trials for Asian Games 2023 are in hot waters again as the day for confirming the athletes' entries neared. The IOA's Ad-hoc committee, which is overseeing the day-to-day affairs of the suspended Wrestling Federation of India (WFI), took the controversial call of exempting elite wrestlers Vinesh Phogat and Bajrang Punia from the trials, therefore opening the can of worms.

While the elite wrestlers, who participated in the months-long stand-off against WFI, asked for additional to prepare for the trials, the ad-hoc committee was happy to grant an exemption on the grounds of international medals won in the recent past by the duo.The lack of comment on the matter from Bajrang Punia and Vinesh Phogat on the decision only reflects that they have no objection.

The ad-hoc panel's new resolution came after it couldn't stage the one-bout special trials in August for the five of the elite wrestlers from the protest as the Asian Olympic body (OCA) extended the July 15 deadline for sending entries by just a week.

Notably, the privilege wasn't granted to 2016 Olympic bronze medallist Sakshi Malik, the other leading face of the protest, as the reigning CWG champion understandably faces a tough test at the domestic level from Sonam Malik, who recently won a bronze medal at the Asian Championships.

However, the ad-hoc panel's contentious call was not going to cut it with the other wrestlers competing in the two exempted weight categories. The challengers of this decision prominently include 2022 World Junior Championship gold medallist Antim Panghal, who emerged as the new domestic rival of Vinesh Phogat in the 53 kg category last year.

Sujit Kalkal and Vishal Kaliraman, who compete in the 65kg category with Bajrang Punia, also lay claims for trials but none of them have a stronger case to protest than 19-year-old Antim, who has now moved the High Court on the matter after publishing a social media video in protest of the decision.

Near-escape for Vinesh Phogat in 2022 CWG trials

The teenager rose to prominence last year when Antim came close to beating India's No.1 woman wrestler during the Commonwealth Games 2022 selection trials. The then-17-year-old girl from Hisar was leading the bout 3-0 in the second round before Phogat, a three-time CWG champion and two-time World Championship medallist, used her experience to perform a triple-point move in the dying minutes to level the score.

The three-pointer also meant the senior wrestler won the bout by the virtue of biggest-point move in the tie but Antim's strong defensive game earned praises. (See the video of the bout below)

The narrow win for the 28-year-old Olympian also meant many at the WFI believed that Phogat's days of dominance at the national level could be numbered. This belief was given further air when Antim won the junior world title in Budapest while the CWG were underway in Birmigham.

Her success was the reason why Phogat was asked to appear for the screening 10 days ahead of the World Championship while elite male wrestlers Bajrang, Ravi Dahiya and Deepak Punia were granted exemption from the trials.

Vinesh Phogat made her resentment clear that her not getting an exemption was unfair as it was in the middle of two big competitions. She, however, did show up at the trials in Lucknow, where she put daylight between herself and her junior rival with a 7-0 win.

Not allowing any points to Antim was no coincidence as Vinesh moved like a well-oiled machine at the peak of the season while her experienced moves were too quick for the teenager to handle. (See the video of the bout below)

However, Vinesh Phogat did remark that the result of the bout alone can't judge the quality of Antim as she saw her as a strong worthy rival at the domestic level. "Just looking at today's result, it will be wrong to say she is not good. She's actually a very strong wrestler and today it was my experience that helped me got better off her," Vinesh told Firstpost after the bout last year.

How has Antim fared since World Championship trials?

With the 2023 season being marred with the ongoing sexual harassment case, which saw outgoing WFI chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh facing severe charges, Antim's progress in the season is halted like any other wrestler in the country.

It began with India losing the hosting rights of the Asian Championships in New Delhi. The continental tournament did take place in Kazakhstan, where Antim bagged the silver medal while losing the gold medal match to former World Champion Akari Fujinami.

The youngster, in fact, has been preparing for the Asian Games 2023 as the major objective for the season since April's silver medal. "She has been training every day since her defeat to Vinesh last year," said Vikas Bhardwaj, one of Antim's coaches at Baba Lal Das Academy in Hisar.

"Antim made it an objective to participate in the Asian Games and opted to miss the Asian U-20 Championship (in Jordan this month) in order to prepare for the Asian Games."

Antim's plea for a fair trial seems no different from the 2019 boxing controversy of Mary Kom and Nikhat Zareen, where the latter urged the Boxing Federation of India to grant a fair trial against Mary Kom for the Asian Olympic qualifiers. Zareen eventually was granted an opportunity, where she lost the bout to the biggest name in Indian boxing.

In Antim's case, there's not much time to waste as the trials are all set to take place less than 48 hours after the Delhi HC's first hearing. Staying the trials is also not an option as the time to confirm entries also run out on July 23, which only means a quick decision on the matter is the need of the hour. It now remains to be seen as the Indian judiciary is willing to intervene in the matter.