Sports Ministry allocates grant for judokas' preparation for Asiad, other international events

Sports Ministry has sanctioned financial assistance to the tune of Rs 5 crore towards Indian judokas' preparation for this year's Asian Games and other international events following the de-recognition of the national federation recently. The ministry de-recognised the Judo Federation of India on April 22 for non-compliance in holding fresh elections in February 2022.

The de-recognition created uncertainty over the future India's judo players, who are preparing for the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games and the Asian Games. But the ministry and Sports Authority of India formed a committee of eminent judo athletes, who conducted the selection trials of judokas for a month-long national preparatory camp for the Asian Games and other international competitions, starting May 1.

According to a SAI statement, 112 athletes will be part of the camp. The committee members include Olympian and Arjuna Awardee Cawas Billimoria, Olympian Sandeep Byala, Olympian Sunith Thakur and judo masters Arun Dwivedi, and Yogesh K Dhadve.

The national camp for men and women will be held at NIS Patiala and the IG Stadium in New Delhi, respectively. "A second selection trial will be held on May 23 and 24 for the women's team and on May 25 and 26 for the men's team during the national camp to shortlist top 4 athletes from each weight category for the upcoming international competitions," a SAI release said.