Bajrang Kumar 'heartbroken' as SAI refuses to sanction travelling expenses

Bajrang is only the sixth Indian male wrestler to win a medal at the World Championships.

World Championship bronze medallist Bajrang Kumar’s exclusion from the pool of players whose trip to the United States will be sponsored by the government, has been stirring controversy all around the nation. The refusal by the Sports Authority of India (SAI) to fund Bajrang’s travelling, boarding and lodging expenses for the Dave Schultz Memorial International tournament in Colorado Springs has come as a big shock to the wrestler, who was all set to compete in the 61 kg category.

“I was training when my coach called to inform that I will be leaving on Wednesday. And today I learnt that I will not be going. I had my bags packed and visa in place. I was mentally ready for the tournament,” Bajrang told TOI on Thursday.

“This was the only tournament before the World Cup (March) and it would have helped me learn my weaknesses. I don’t even know why I will not be going.”

“I came to know from the federation that I won’t be travelling to the USA. Everything was ready, my visa and tickets and it was heartbreaking news for me.”

“I was hoping that the meeting may bring a good news for me but my coach told me I am not going since my case has been rejected by SAI. It’s really disappointing,” he added.

The Wrestling Federation of India’s (WFI) secretary general Raj Singh said that Bajrang has been opted out of the list as he had not participated in the Nationals. However, Sandeep Tulsi Yadav (66kg, Greco-Roman) and Amit Kumar (55kg, freestyle) were included in the team despite having skipped the nationals.

A WIF official revealed, “WFI submitted a fresh list of grapplers to SAI which comprised nine names including Dahiya and Bajrang. Both did not participate in nationals held in Kolkata but WFI persisted with their names. SAI stuck to its stand of allowing eight grapplers and finally WFI included the name of Dahiya into the list and left out Bajrang.

“However, they requested SAI to consider Bajrang’s name as he is a bronze winner in the world championship and a bright medal prospect for India in the CWG and Asian Games.”

Another official said, on the condition of anonymity, “Sports ministry had allocated Rs 13 crore as wrestling budget for the financial year 2013-2014 to the SAI and the sports body has enough money left from our budget to send a player of Bajrang’s repute to the US tourney. This is not fair. This tournament costs 4-5 lakh per person. WFI can’t bear this much amount on its own.”

Whatever the reason, one thing is certain – Bajrang Kumar, a bright prospect in Indian wrestling who deserves to participate in the competition, has been rendered helpless.