The news of Vinesh Phogat and her coach Om Prakash Dahiya testing positive on Friday has raised many eyebrows. The Indian wrestler was asymptomatic and was tested in Sonepat ahead of the National Sports Award ceremony where she was to be bestowed with Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award. After the reports came back positive, the wrestler was quick to go in self-isolation and asked everyone who came in contact with her to follow suit. However, on multiple occasions before this, she had claimed to be training in a safe environment with her sister Priyanka, and that she took all the precautions. And yet she got infected. Moreover, she is not the only wrestler so far.
Four wrestlers from Hungary had also been tested positive. This certainly has once again unearthed the question of ‘How safe will the national camp be?’
Bajrang Punia, Phogat’s counter-part in men’s wrestling, advocated that it is time to resume training in full swing to get results at Tokyo Olympics. The three-time world medallist will be amongst the 27 wrestlers who will be joining the national camp in Sonepat from September 1. He wished Phogat a speedy recovery but also urged the Wrestling Federation of India not to cancel the camp. “Many major wrestling nations have begun the camps, be it Russia, USA or Georgia. We have to do something and take some risk. The World Championship in December is not important but the Olympics is,” he said.
“So many are yet to qualify for the Olympics. Camp is important for us. We have been told that 48 staffers at SAI centre have tested and they all have returned negative test. Everyone will be tested and put in quarantine till test reports come. We will have to follow the rules. Outside it’s riskier and inside the sports complex, it is safer. The government and WFI is doing it (camp) for us. We just have to be disciplined,” he said.
Kripa Shankar, former SAI coach, echoed Punia’s thoughts and said that if not next month than later but WFI will have to resume the camp. “We have to start living with it. There is no running away from this fact. The sooner we accept it, the sooner we start finding solutions to it,” he said. “I believe, wrestlers training individually in their local akhadas are at more risks than training at the SAI Centre. I have at SAI, it is a jail. No one can enter or exit without permission. And we need a haven like this for wrestlers in the current situation”.
The 1994 Commonwealth Games bronze medallist had recently sent some recommendations on organising the national camp in December. In the 10-pointer letter he wrote, “The state federations have to work closely with the WFI. Before sending the participants the federations should quarantine them for 14 days and then send them,” he said.
Shankar added that wrestlers are the most vulnerable to getting infected not because they are not fit but due to their training regime instead. “Wrestlers train very hard and to their last breath. They like to get their body fatigued repeatedly. But this is where they become vulnerable to getting sick. My advice to them is to do smart training and keep their fitness high but also not get fatigued every day”.
On whether wrestling should resume or not, he added, “I have said it multiple times and I say it again, it is thought to resume a sport like wrestling. But we have to do it. Sports Authority of India should make sure that they completely lock the wrestlers in SAI Center for next couple of months for training. This way we keep our athletes safe and get ready for Tokyo Games too”.