2020 Tokyo Olympics: Wrestling qualifier moved to Kazakhstan from China

Indian wrestlers, who were set to participate in the Asian qualifier for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, will now compete in Kazakhstan instead of China.

According to the United World Wrestling (UWW), the qualifier will now take place from April 9 to 11 in Almaty Kazakhstan.

"The United World Wrestling bureau held a virtual meeting Tuesday to discuss several topics, including an update to the dates and locations of competitions in 2021," the UWW said in an official statement.

"To help with costs and coordination the bureau voted to combine the Asian Championships and Olympic Qualifier to Almaty, Kazakhstan with the tournaments set to run back-to-back April 9-17," it added.

The UWW also postponed the Rome Ranking Series, which was slated to take place in mid-January. Matteo Pellicone Ranking Series will now be held in March.

"Citing limited interest in a January competition, the bureau voted to move the Matteo Pellicone Ranking Series tournament from mid-January to March 4-7," the statement read.

The World Olympic Qualifier will remain in Sofia but has been moved one week later to May 6-9. The Pan Am Championships in Rio de Janeiro and the Poland Ranking Series events have remained unchanged.

The world governing body also said that due to the coronavirus crisis all competition dates and locations will be subject to change based on the conditions in host countries as well as their ability to meet United World Wrestling's strict sanitary guidelines for events.

The postponed Tokyo Olympic Games will be held from July 23 to August 8, 2021, while the Paralympics will take place from August 24 to September 5, 2021.