13-member Indian Wrestling team to participate in Zagreb Open Ranking Series

13 Indian wrestlers will represent India in the Zagreb Open ranking series, the first world ranking tournament in the Croatian capital, from January 10 to 14.

The news comes after the United World Wrestling released the initial list of participants without anyone from India.

Bhupinder Singh Bajwa, Chairman of the Ad Hoc Committee, appointed by the Indian Olympic Association to oversee the day-to-day conduct of wrestling affairs in the country, announced on Tuesday.

"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. The team was facing difficulty in securing a visa appointment. However, the Ministry of External Affairs has helped the team in this regard," Bajwa said, according to an official release.

The Ad Hoc Committee Chairman said the Croatian Wrestling Federation Secretary-General Tin Bregovic had sent a letter of invitation for 13 wrestlers, 9 coaching and support staff, and three referees.

"We have taken every step to ensure that the team reaches Zagreb well in time for the tournament," Bajwa said.

"We have ensured that India's Olympic hopefuls would compete in their respective weight class along with a 2kg weight allowance in the first ranking event of the Olympic year. We are confident that the 13 who will compete in Zagreb will make the most of the chance to prepare for the Asian Qualification tournament in April and the World Qualification tournament in May," he added.

The Union Sports Ministry had last month instructed the IOA to form an ad-hoc committee to manage and control the affairs of the WFI.

The WFI is being run by a three-member committee constituted by the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) after the Sports Ministry suspended the Sanjay Singh-led newly-elected sports federation owing to a violation of its constitution.

The ad-hoc panel is being headed by Bhupinder Singh Bajwa.

"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 issued on Tuesday.

"The team was facing difficulty in securing a visa appointment. However, the Ministry of External Affairs has helped the team in this regard."

The ad-hoc committee chairman said the Croatian Wrestling Federation Secretary-General Tin Bregovic had sent a letter of invitation for the 13 wrestlers, nine coaching and support staff, and three referees.

"We have taken every step to ensure that the team reaches Zagreb well in time for the tournament," Bajwa said.

"We have ensured that India's Olympic hopefuls would compete in their respective weight class along with a 2kg weight allowance in the first ranking event of the Olympic year," he said.

"We are confident that the 13 who will compete in Zagreb will make the most of the chance to prepare for the Asian Qualification tournament in April and the World Qualification tournament in May."

Indian Team for Zagreb Open:

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).

Referees: Satya Dev Malik, Dinesh Dhondiba Gund and Sanjay Kumar.