The Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) has announced that it will split the teams after several of its top stars expressed their intentions to compete at the World Championships, which is to act as a qualification tournament for next year's Olympic Games in Paris.

Hangzhou 2022 - which was supposed to take place last year before COVID-19 restrictions in China forced it to be delayed by a year - is set for September 23 to October 8, while the World Championships are scheduled for September 16 to 24 in Belgrade.

Wrestling at the Asian Games is scheduled from October 4 to 7 - meaning athletes can be selected for both teams in theory, with no quarantine expected to enter China for Hangzhou 2022.

Despite this, the WFI has made it clear it will split the teams.

Iran has been the most dominant wrestling nation in Asia, winning five golds at the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta Palembang.

India finished sixth on the wrestling medals table with three medals.

"There would be one trial at a time at two different camps of men and women, but we will pick two different teams," said WFI assistant secretary Vinod Tomar, according to the Hindustan Times. 

"We have enough bench strength for the two teams and even for Greco-Roman we will have separate teams.

"Our main focus is on the World Championships, as well as the Asian Games. 

"While one is the qualifying [event] for the next Olympics, the Asian Games will help us stamp our supremacy on the sport. 

"At the 2018 Games in Jakarta, Bajrang Punia and Vinesh Phogat won gold medals, whereas Divya Kakran had a bronze."

Tomar added that the abundance of athletes at the under-57 kilograms and under-65kg categories set them up well for wins in both competitions.

"Both men and women wrestlers had success in international events and now there is no concept of a B team in Indian wrestling," he added.

The Asian Wrestling Championships are also set to take place on home soil in New Delhi from March 28 to April 2.