Vinesh Phogat is among the athletes to have expressed concern about travelling during the pandemic ©Getty Images

The Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) has postponed its national women's camp for athletes due to compete at next year's Olympic Games in Tokyo for a second time after participants expressed concern over travelling during the coronavirus pandemic.

The camp had been scheduled to begin on September 1 in Lucknow.

Olympic bronze medallist Sakshi Malik and double Commonwealth Games champion Vinesh Phogat are among the wrestlers to have voiced concern over travel to the Indian city amid a recent rise in COVID-19 cases.

"Vinesh and Divya Kakran had said they were not keen to travel," WFI assistant secretary Vinod Tomar said, according to the Press Trust of India.

"We were already organising the camp for a limited number of weight categories, so if these players are willing to come, what we could have done.

Olympic bronze medallist Sakshi Malik was due to participate at the camp in Lucknow ©Getty Images
Olympic bronze medallist Sakshi Malik was due to participate at the camp in Lucknow ©Getty Images

"If God forbid something happens, the federation would have been blamed. 

"So we will review the situation after two weeks and take a decision. 

"Several other countries have started preparations for Olympics and we did not want to lag behind.

"But we can't do it, if players won't attend camp."

India has recorded more than 2.9 million cases of COVID-19, resulting in at least 56,000 deaths.

The country has won a total of five medals in wrestling at the Olympics.

The Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games have been rescheduled for 2021 due to the COVID-19 crisis.