SRINAGAR: The Wushu Association of India will conduct the final selection trials for the 19th Asian Games on the 23rd and 24th of this month at Sher-I Kashmir Indoor Stadium, Srinagar where one of the Wushu preparatory camps is already in progress since 6th June and shall conclude on 3rd August.
Around forty-five players are part of the camp and in the second phase of the one-month-long camp which is likely to commence on 1st July, thirty-seven players will train under the tutelage of renowned coaches. The team will immediately leave for China for foreign exposure training for 45 days and will be stationed there till the commencement of the Asian Games.
Some of the probable for the world championship scheduled to be held in the USA later this year will be part of the camp. Pertinently national Wushu team bagged two gold medals in the last world outing in 2019.
The selection trials are being held in the backdrop of the directions from MYAS which has asked the affiliated state and UT units to send entries by name to be forwarded to the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) by or before the 30th of this month.
The Sports Authority of India has also sanctioned a 2 month long preparatory national Wushu coaching camp at Srinagar, a prelude to the 19th Asian Games at Hangzhou from 25th September to 8th October this year.
The Wushu Association of India has constituted a selection committee for the purpose headed by Jitender Singh Bajwa and Suheel Ahmad, president, and CEO respectively of the Wushu Association of India and Dronacharya awardee Kuldeep Handoo, the national Chief Coach of India besides Dr. Arif and Abhilash Saxena are also part of the committee. Observers from the Sports Authority of India will also be part of the selection committee for the 19th Asian Games.
The National doping team comprising four officials will screen the team and educate them about the ill effects of substance abuse.
The national chief coach of India Kuldeep Handoo said that the Sports Authority of India is planning to set up a permanent center for Wushu in J&K which has already received a nod from the J&K Sports Council.
Meanwhile, special sports activities under My Youth My Pride were held at Chattro, Kishtwar during which activities in Carrom and Tug of War were conducted. More than ninety students took part in the event. In the activities held under the banner of other special sports activities and to reach and engage maximum youth in sports, Tug of War and Carrom activities were also organized in the village Nangali Sahib in the border area of the district Poonch.
In one of the major developments, Sports Council Football Academy drubbed Real Kashmir FC in a thrilling match. The encounter which was piped to be a high-intensity game lived up to its expectation. In one of the matches of Srinagar DFA Premier Division League, played at Synthetic Turf Football, TRC the Real Kashmir was humbled by Sports Council Football Academy trainees. Youngster Rizwan scored the solitary goal in the 64th minute of the game.
The Sports Council Football Academy had fielded players between 15-17 years for the league to give them game exposure against major clubs like Real Kashmir.
Pertinently Sports Council has produced many national players of immense repute, besides contributing to ISL and I-League teams, J&K Teams, and Leading Private Clubs.
Ever since its inception in the year 2017, eleven players from the academy have represented the country in different age group categories.
The ecstatic coach of SCFA, Javed Ahmad said that the boys have been training very hard and, in the days, to come many promising trainees of the academy will go on to become the prominent faces of Football in the country.
