The last-minute refusal by SAI to sanction Bajrang’s travel, boarding and lodging expenses for the fortnight long event has robbed the promising grappler a chance to compete against the world’s best under a new weight category, keeping Commonwealth Games, Asian Games and World Championships in mind this year. Bajrang got the shocking news from his federation hours before leaving for the airport to join his teammates who flew by an early morning flight on Thursday accompanied by chief coach Vinod Kumar.
The squad comprise Amit Kumar Dahiya, Sandeep Tomar, Rahul Aware, Amit Dhankhar, Praveen Rana, Pawan Kumar, Satyavrat Kadian and Rohit Patel. When contacted, Bajrang was reluctant to speak on the matter as talks between Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) and SAI officials were still on to send the grappler to USA.It has been reliably learnt SAI secretary Neeraj Kansal has written a letter to DG Jiji Thomson to consider his case under ‘special circumstances’ and a separate meeting has also taken place between Bajrang’s coach Yashvir Singh and Thomson. ‘I came to know from the federation I won’t travel to USA. It was a heartbreaking news for me. I don’t know what has happened,’ Bajrang said.
The squad comprise Amit Kumar Dahiya, Sandeep Tomar, Rahul Aware, Amit Dhankhar, Praveen Rana, Pawan Kumar, Satyavrat Kadian and Rohit Patel. When contacted, Bajrang was reluctant to speak on the matter as talks between Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) and SAI officials were still on to send the grappler to USA.It has been reliably learnt SAI secretary Neeraj Kansal has written a letter to DG Jiji Thomson to consider his case under ‘special circumstances’ and a separate meeting has also taken place between Bajrang’s coach Yashvir Singh and Thomson. ‘I came to know from the federation I won’t travel to USA. It was a heartbreaking news for me. I don’t know what has happened,’ Bajrang said.