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India’s men’s wrestling team – Bajrang Punia (65 kg), Ravi Dahiya (57 kg), and Deepak Punia (86 kg) – will leave for the Tokyo Olympics on July 29. The three wrestlers, along with their personal coaches and support staff, reached Moscow from their training base in Vladikavkaz on Monday and will now train in the Russian capital.
Shako Bentinidis, Bajrang Punia’s coach, who will be traveling to the Olympics, briefed Sportskeeda about their training in an exclusive chat.
“It was a good training camp. We learnt some new techniques and also tried putting them to the test. Now, we are in Moscow until July 29. The wrestlers will then leave for Tokyo,” he said.
Shako, though, will stay put for two extra days in Moscow and leave for the Olympics on August 1 due to limited accreditation for the Games village.
“We wanted them to leave together but due to the organizers issue limited accreditation cards in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. The cards of the Indian members in the village will be transferred to the ones who will arrive. That is why they will stay in Tokyo until August 1,” said Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) assistant secretary Vinod Tomar.
The Olympic-bound Indian wrestling squad underwent the COVID-19 test on Monday and will take another test on Tuesday before they leave.
Women wrestlers land in Tokyo for Olympics
Meanwhile, the three Indian wrestlers, Seema Bisla (50 kg), Anshu Malik (57 kg) and Sonam Malik (62 kg) left for Tokyo on Monday evening. The wrestlers were training at the Sports Authority of India (SAI) center in Sonepat with coaches Kuldeep Malik and Rajeev Tomar.
READ: Prediction: Will Bajrang Punia win a medal at Tokyo Olympics 2020?
Vinesh Phogat (53 kg), on the other hand, left for the Olympics from Budapest, Hungary. She was expected to reach Tokyo on Tuesday but was stopped at Frankfurt airport due to a visa issue.
It has been learned that the 2019 world championship medalist had overstated her European Union visa by one day. The matter was taken up by SAI and the Indian consulate in Frankfurt. She will land in Tokyo on Wednesday now.
She had been training in Europe since late April which included a short camp in Poland and Estonia as well.
Unlike Shako though, her coach Woller Akos will join Vinesh in the Games village the same day, after he got his accreditation card through the Hungarian Olympic Committee.
The Medal Tally for Tokyo 2020 is out now. Check out the Tokyo Olympics Medal Tally
“Vinesh’s coach had accreditation from Hungary Federation, that is why he could join her sooner. Also, it's good because it would have been tough to send personal coaches with the team,” said a WFI official.
Meanwhile, Sonamonam Malik will open India’s wrestling campaign at the Olympics on August 3.
READ: Prediction: Will Vinesh Phogat win a medal at Tokyo Olympics 2020?
