"VAN" (Sports Desk) :: Although India, Korea, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan were seen as options for hosting the Asian Wrestling Olympic Qualifiers, Kyrgyzstan has been chosen as the venue for the competition. The reason being the central Asian country’s will to grant visas to Chinese wrestlers for participating in the event.
There is, although, a condition behind this. Chinese wrestlers coming to Kyrgyzstan will have to be in quarantine in the country for 14 days prior to the tournament.
The United World Wrestling (UWW), the global body of the sport, will soon make a formal announcement regarding the same.
The Asian Olympic Qualifiers was scheduled to take place in X’ian in China from March 27-29 but was shifted from there by the UWW amid the deadly Coronavirus outbreak. The virus, which originated from the Chinese city Wuhan, has infected more than 72,000 people and killed nearly 1,900 so far.
The epidemic in China also led to the country’s 40-member contingent not participating in the Asian Wrestling Championships underway at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Sports Complex in New Delhi. Severe travel restrictions led to Chinese wrestlers missing the chance to compete in the six-day continental tournament.
However, UWW said on Wednesday that China will compete in Asian Olympic qualifier and the tournament will not be postponed. “The Asian qualifier scheduled at Xian in the last week of March has been shifted from China, but there is no way it will be postponed. The new venue has been decided and it will be announced this weekend as per the statement by UWW bureau member.
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