Asian Wrestling Championships 2023 moved from New Delhi to Astana
The 36th edition of the continental meet was originally scheduled from March 28 to April 2 in India.
Wrestling
The Asian Wrestling Championships 2023, which were to be held in New Delhi, India next month, will now be held in Astana, Kazakhstan, the United World Wrestling (UWW) announced on Thursday.
The dates for the Asian Wrestling Championships also have been tentatively moved forward from March 28-April 2 to April 7-15.
"UWW was forced to change the host of the continental championships due to the recent developments in Indian wrestling and a pending inquiry by the Indian sports ministry against the Wrestling Federation of India," a press release on the UWW website stated.
Top Indian wrestlers including Olympic medallists Bajrang Punia, Ravi Kumar Dahiya, Sakshi Malik and others had opted out of the first two ranking series tournaments of the year in Zagreb and Cairo, respectively. The wrestlers had accused the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) of mismanagement earlier this year.
Like the meets in Zagreb and Cairo, the Asian Wrestling Championships will also offer ranking points that will determine the seedings for the World Championships in September.
In addition, the World Championships in Belgrade, Serbia from September 16 to 24 will offer five quota places for each of the 18 weight categories at the Paris 2024 Olympics.
At the last Asian wrestling championships held in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia in 2022, Indian wrestlers won 17 medals - one gold, five silvers and 11 bronze. Ravi Kumar Dahiya won India’s only gold while Bajrang Punia settled for silver.
Apart from the senior competition, the U17 and U23 Asian Wrestling Championships are set to return to Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan for a second straight year. The tournament will take place from June 10 to 18.