NEW DELHI: Sujeet Kalkal, the reigning U23 Asian champion, spoke out against the Indian Olympic Association's (IOA) decision to grant direct entry to Bajrang Punia for the upcoming Asian Games. Kalkal criticised the IOA ad-hoc committee, led by Bhupender Singh Bajwa, for exempting Bajrang Punia (65kg freestyle) and Vinesh Phogat (53kg) from the Asian Games trials, scheduled on July 22-23, which he believes is unfair to the next generation of wrestlers with Olympic aspirations.
"I had wrestled with Bajrang a year back during the (Birmingham) Commonwealth Games trials, which was very close. During the trials, Bajrang was handed a direct semifinals entry and we had to contest all the bouts," said Kalkal, the reigning senior national champion and last year's Junior Asian gold medallist.
