China’s top official, squad set to miss Asian wrestling

NEW DELHI: China’s Sun Jian, a member of the United World Wrestling, will miss the referees’ clinic scheduled on Monday ahead of the senior Asian Wrestling Championships starting at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Sports Complex here on Tuesday due to travel restrictions placed on visitors since the novel coronavirus outbreak in that country.

Being on the official list of the world governing body, Sun was supposed to arrive here on Saturday to officiate in the six-day competition but hasn’t arrived, a Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) official said. China’s 40-member contingent, including coaches, is also set to miss the competition as the country’s name doesn’t figure in the preevent training schedule starting on Monday.

Sun is the top UWW official (Olympic category) in China and his hometown is close to Wuhan, the epicentre of the novel coronavirus outbreak. Hence, he can’t travel to India. “There must be some restriction on travelling and getting visa,” added the WFI official, who is part of the referees’ clinic.

China’s name is not in the preevent training schedule drawn up for the 25 countries that have confirmed participation. ‘’I doubt they (China) are coming as the nation is facing a health crisis,’’ the WFI official said.

Pakistan’s participation was cleared on Saturday after the

Indian government decided to issue visas to a contingent of four freestyle wrestlers, and a coach and referee each.

Each team at the meet venue will get a two-hour training slot from Monday. Pakistan is among the teams in that list. “Almost all the countries have arrived,” said an official familiar with the travel arrangement of the teams.

Participating nations were apprehensive of China’s participation because of novel coronavirus concerns. “Kazkhastan confirmed its participation at the eleventh hour, and that too after being told China isn’t coming. Being an Olympic year, every country wants to avail of the opportunity to compete and evaluate the performances of its athletes,” said the wrestling official.

The Chinese wrestling federation had at the start of this month requested its Indian counterpart to expedite the visa process as its wrestlers wanted to train in India ahead of the Asian meet. However, the Indian embassy in Beijing wanted to ensure that all members of the Chinese contingent first underwent a thorough medical check-up.

However, India is among the countries who have place severe restrictions on travel from China because of the novel coronavirus outbreak with over 1660 people reported dead in the country.

The Asian meet will start on Tuesday with Greco-Roman bouts in five weight categories—55kg, 63kg, 77kg, 87kg and 130kg.