All 12 wrestlers at national camp test negative, training to begin from Monday

All 12 women wrestlers at the national camp in Lucknow, including Olympic qualifier Vinesh Phogat, have tested negative for coronavirus.

Published : Oct 18, 2020 20:36 IST , New Delhi

Vinesh Phogat, the only woman wrestler to have qualified for next year’s Tokyo Olympics, had recovered from the coronavirus.

Vinesh Phogat, the only woman wrestler to have qualified for next year’s Tokyo Olympics, had recovered from the coronavirus.

All 12 women wrestlers who had assembled at SAI centre in Lucknow, including Olympic qualifier Vinesh Phogat, have tested negative for coronavirus, clearing the decks for the resumption of training from Monday.

Olympic medallist Sakshi Malik (62kg), Seema (50kg), Lalita (53kg) and Nisha (68kg) will join the camp from October 25, according to national coach Kuldeep Malik.

“All the wrestlers have tested negative. We will begin with light training from tomorrow. The focus will be on general fitness, gym training, running and exercise. The mat training will only start from next week (starting October 26),” Malik told PTI from Lucknow.

Vinesh, the only woman wrestler to have qualified for next year’s Tokyo Olympics, had tested positive for COVID-19 just before the virtual national awards ceremony where she was to receive the Khel Ratna award. She later recovered and joined the national camp.

“The four missing wrestlers were to join from Tuesday but the Sports Authority of India and the Wrestling Federation of India have asked them to join from October 25,” he added.

The camp was postponed twice due to the coronavirus pandemic and will now continue till December 31.