WFI Allows Three Phogat Sisters To Re-enter Wrestling Camp

After being dropped from the National camp for ‘serious indiscipline’, the Phogat sisters now have some respite. Three of them are now allowed to get back to the Wrestling camp for the forthcoming Asian Games. The four sisters were suspended on grounds of indiscipline. However, Babita Phogat, the 53 kg silver medallist at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games, is still barred from entering the national camp.

Much to their relief, on Wednesday the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) took the matter into consideration and reviewed the written explanations submitted by the suspended wrestlers. The WFI has nodded to bring back three Phogat sisters – Geeta, Ritu and Sangeeta – to join the camp at the SAI centre in Lucknow.

The three sisters will now be allowed to appear for the selection trials and enter the wrestling camp for the forthcoming Jakarta Asian Games.

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Along with the Phogat sisters, 11 other wrestlers from the ongoing national wrestling camp were barred on the grounds of ‘indiscipline’. The three Phogat sisters came back only after they submitted written explanations on why they were absent from the women's camp in Lucknow. The fourth one, Babita, who claimed to be injured, hasn't been allowed since the body didn't accept her clarification as valid.

The selected wrestlers will resume their training in SAI centres in Lucknow and Sonepat.

"The wrestlers selected for the national camp are expected to physically report to the camp within 3 days. If they have any problems or issues they should go there and report it to the coaches and find a solution," WFI President Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh had told PTI back then.

"But Geeta, Babita and others (in all 13) did not do that. They were incommunicado. This is serious indiscipline on their part and the WFI felt it's time to pull the plug. So we have told them to sit at home and enjoy," he had claimed.

Pic Credit: Hindustan Times

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