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Journalism of Courage
Besides the happiness of being the countrys first wushu player to receive an Arjuna Award,Sandhyarani Devi Wangkhem was also a worried person on Monday.
On Tuesday and Wednesday,the national wushu association is holding trials at Gulmarg for the World Wushu Championships scheduled in October,but weary with all the rehearsals for the awards and formalities she had to complete in Delhi,Sandhyarani had requested the association,pressing them again at the award ceremony on Monday,to give her some recovery time so that she could be in optimum shape for the trials.
The association,meanwhile,recognises her effort in popularising the sport but says it cannot make exceptions for individuals. She is our Asian Games medalist,an Arjuna Award winner now and we also want our best players to go to the Worlds but she knew about these dates beforehand. Even I am flying to Gulmarg from Delhi on Tuesday.
The government pays for her entire travel,accommodation and food there so she will have no problems. The maximum we can do is to keep the trials for her weight category on August 31, said Bhupendra Singh Bajwa,president of the Wushu Association of India.
Besides,I have set up a panel of eight coaches and other people who will be overseeing the trials. There are other girls in her category who are already attending the Gulmarg camp and waiting for the trials. I am not in a position to disrupt all that. If Sandhyarani misses the trials,he added,the association will send whoever wins in the 56kg category.
While Sandhyarani is citing fatigue and lack of preparation for her request,others suggest she is out of practice and wants to skip the trials for fear of losing. She has not been practicing regularly and even lost at the National Championships in April at Haridwar. Others have been training in Srinagar and Bhopal earlier. She is afraid she might lose, a senior association official said.
