A special committee of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) has announced that the selection of Indian wrestlers for the 2024 Paris Olympic qualifiers will now take place on March 10 and 11. This decision comes after the committee acknowledges delays in organizing the 2023 national championship for adults, leading to the postponement of the tests initially scheduled from February 27 to 29.
But the beginning of March brought disappointment to fans of Indian wrestling. Bajrang Punia and Ravi Dahiya, both Tokyo Games medal winners, faced disappointment on March 10 as they were knocked out of contention for qualification for the Paris Olympics in the national team qualifiers. In their place, promising wrestlers, Asian champion Aman Sehrawat (57kg) and national champion Sujeet Kalkal (65kg), emerged winners in their respective freestyle weight classes.
How and to whom did Bajrang Punia lose?
Punia, known for his vocal opposition to former WFI president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, suffered a major setback as he lost 1-9 to Rohit Kumar in the men’s 65kg freestyle semi-final. His Test journey began with a narrow victory over Ravinder.
Despite his legal victory claiming that the suspended Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) did not have the authority to conduct the trials, Punia left the SAI Center in Sonepat following his expulsion. He did not participate in the battle for third and fourth places. He also did not remain for the drug test requested by NADA officials.
Sujeet Kalakal emerged as the new hope in the 65kg category after defeating Rohit in the final following his unsuccessful legal challenge against Punia’s direct participation in the Hangzhou Asian Games.
How and to whom did Ravi Dahiya lose?
The men’s 57kg weight category, held in the Nordic format, was always going to be a tough category with both Tokyo Games silver medalist Ravi Dahiya and emerging star athlete Aman Sehrawat competing in the competition.
In the 57kg category, Ravi Dahiya faced a tough fight on his return from injury, eventually losing to Aman Sehrawat 13-14 in a high-scoring opening about. Aman, an Asian Games bronze medalist, saved Dahiya’s last-minute push to win the close contest. Despite his efforts, Dahiya was unable to advance, losing his next fight to Asian U20 champion Udit.
Aman Sehrawat’s victory allowed him to represent India in the Olympic qualifiers in the 57kg category, bolstered by his impressive performance in 2023.
As per the special committee’s directions, the winner of the Olympic weight trials will represent India in the upcoming Olympic qualifying tournaments, including the Asian Olympic Qualifiers (April 19-21) and the World Olympic Qualifiers (May 9-12).
Winners in non-Olympic weight categories and wrestlers who took second place in Olympic weight categories at the trials will represent the country at the Asian Championships (April 11-16) in Bishkek.
At the 2024 Olympics in Paris, wrestling will occur in 18 weight categories. India may get 17 more wrestling quotas for the Paris Olympics. India has won seven medals in wrestling at the Olympics so far. Wrestling competitions at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris will be held from August 5 to 11 on the Champ de Mars.
With only one quota secured for the Paris Games so far, courtesy of Antim Pangal in the women’s 53kg category, the Indian team is gearing up for the Asian qualifiers where wrestlers like Jaideep, Deepak Punia, Deepak Nehra and Sumit Malik are securing their spots through trials.
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