Wrestler Bajrang Punia, who dropped out of the Paris Olympics, has requested the Sports Ministry to provide financial assistance and the Sports Ministry has accepted his request.
The Sports Ministry has approved the extension of the tenure of Bajrang Punia’s ‘conditioning coach’ Kazi Kiran Mustafa Hasan till the end of May. Punia was among the athletes who protested against the former president of the Wrestling Federation of India Brijbhushan Sharan Singh.
Bajrang Punia did not make it to the top four wrestlers in the 65 kg weight category in the trials held for the Paris Olympics. Based on these tests, the team was selected for the Asian Championship and the Asian Olympic Qualifying Tournament.
The Sports Ministry said, ‘Mission Olympic Cell has approved the proposal to provide financial assistance to wrestler Bajrang Punia and extend the tenure of his conditioning coach Kazi Kiran Mustafa Hasan till the end of May. However, the sports ministry did not clarify the amount sanctioned to Punia.
Apart from Punia, the sports ministry also approved table tennis player Sreeja Akula’s request for financial assistance to train in Chinese Taipei ahead of the Olympics. Judoka Tulika Mann has also accepted the request for financial assistance to participate in the tournament in Antalya, Turkey and for the subsequent training. Also approved are proposals to provide financial assistance to table tennis players Manav Thakkar and Pais Jain to participate in tournaments.
