New Delhi: The Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) has announced the rules and schedule for the Wrestling Trials for the 2026 Asian Games and one of the major outcomes is Vinesh Fugat will not be eligible to participate in these contests. The federation said only medalists from the 2025 National Senior Wrestling Championship, the 2026 Senior Federation Cup and the Under-20 National Wrestling Championship will be able to participate. WFI also made it clear that past performance will not be considered.
Vinesh, who is preparing to make a comeback after nearly 18 months, will compete in the 57kg category of the National Open Ranking Championships. However, her previous results did not help her qualify under the newly announced criteria Asian Games test.The women’s wrestling trials will be held on May 30 at the Indira Gandhi Stadium in New Delhi, while the freestyle and Greco-Roman trials are scheduled to be held on May 31 at the SAI Regional Center in Lucknow. The competition will cover 18 Olympic weight classes across three wrestling formats.At the same time, Vinesh also received a warning from the International Testing Agency (ITA) for missing an out-of-competition doping test in Bengaluru in December 2025. Athletes in the testing pool must remain available for a fixed one-hour period for unannounced testing. Vinesh explained that she was traveling to Haryana to fulfill her parliamentary duties and take care of her personal responsibilities after the birth of her child, but the ITA rejected her explanation.“We are obliged to make the service available and accessible at designated locations without prior notification,” the ITA said in its notice. The agency added that this would be considered her first “whereabouts failure” in the past 12 months. However, this is not considered a doping violation and will not prevent her from participating in the upcoming Gonda Championships.
