Zagreb Open 2024: Bajrang Punia, Antim Panghal Opt Out As Ad-Hoc Panel Names Depleted Indian Squad

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The IOA-appointed ad-hoc committee on Tuesday (December 2) named a 13-member team for the Zagreb Open 2024 in Croatia as Bajrang Punia, Antim Panghal, and three other wrestlers opted out of the year-beginning competition.

While Bajrang Punia understandably opted out due to lack of preparation over the ongoing wrestlers vs WFI conflict, Antim Panghal made herself unavailable for Zagreb Open 2024 (starts January 10) to attend the national sports award ceremony where she will be conferred with the prestigious Arjuna award.

The other three wrestlers to give Zagreb Open 2024 -- a UWW Ranking Series event -- miss are all women grapplers --Pooja Gehlot (50kg), Mansi Ahlawat (57kg), Kiran (76kg), who also participated in the Asian Games 2023. Aman Sehrawat (57kg), Yash (74kg), Deepak Punia (86kg), Vicky (97kg) and Sumit Malik (125kg) formed the squad for men's freestyle. Sonam Malik (62kg) and Radhika (68kg) are part of the women's contingent while rest of the squad consists of Greco Roman wrestlers.

Men Freestyle: Aman (57kg); Yash (74kg), Deepak Punia (86kg), Vicky (97kg) and Sumit (125kg); Greco-Roman: Gyanender (60kg), Neeraj (67kg), Vikas (77kg), Sunil Kumar (87kg), Narinder Cheema (97kg) and Naveen (130kg); Women: Sonam (62kg) and Radhika (68kg).

Coaching and support staff: Kuldeep Singh (team leader and coach), Vinod Kumar, Sujeet, Shashi Bhushan Prasad, Manoj Kumar, Virender Singh and Alka Tomar (coaches); Vishal Kumar Rai (physiotherapist) and Neeraj (masseur).

The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) formed a three-person committee to oversee the WFI after the Sports Ministry suspended the newly elected national federation led by Sanjay Singh for violating its own constitution. Wushu federation's president Bhupinder Singh Bajwa has been chairing the ad-hoc committee.

"Thanks to a timely intervention by the Ministry of External Affairs, the 25 Indians due to travel to Zagreb will complete the visa formalities on Wednesday," Bajwa said in a press release. "The team was facing difficulty in securing a visa appointment. However, the Ministry of External Affairs has helped the team in this regard."