Indian wrestlers at Tokyo Olympics: Know the medal hopefuls

A sporting discipline that’s always delivered for India in recent history, wrestling has always been a highly-anticipated event at the Olympic Games.

Sushil Kumar won bronze at Beijing 2008 and then added a silver at London 2012. Yogeshwar Dutt too bagged a bronze medal in London. At Rio 2016, Sakshi Maik became the first Indian woman to win a wrestling medal, bagging a bronze.

In fact, India’s first individual medal at the Olympics came in wrestling, with KD Jadhav winning bronze at Helsinki 1952.

Seven Indian wrestlers have qualified for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics with six grapplers set to make their maiden appearance at the Games. All will compete in the freestyle category.

Here’s a look at the Indian wrestling contingent for the Tokyo Games, how they qualified and the weight categories they will represent.

Ravi Kumar Dahiya - men’s 57kg freestyle

Ravi Kumar Dahiya is a two-time Asian champion. Ravi Kumar Dahiya qualified for the Olympics at the 2019 world wrestling championships in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan. He made the squad for the worlds after beating favourite Rahul Aware in the trials earlier in the year.

At the world meet, Ravi Kumar Dahiya cruised to the quarter-finals, where he beat former world champion Yuki Takahashi of Japan 6-1 to seal a quota for Tokyo.

The 23-year-old Ravi Kumar Dahiya, however, lost the semi-final to the eventual champion, Russia’s Zaur Uguev, and settled for a bronze.

Bajrang Punia - men’s 65kg freestyle

Indian star Bajrang Punia is going to be the flag-bearer of the Indian wrestling team in Tokyo 2020.

Like Ravi Kumar Dahiya, the 27-year-old Bajrang Punia too booked his place for the Tokyo Olympics at the 2019 world championships.

Heading into the Nur-Sultan event as a two-time world championships medallist, the Indian wrestler was one of the favourites for the title. But Bajrang Punia suffered a shock loss to local favourite Daulet Niyazbekov in the semi-finals and settled for a bronze.

Deepak Punia - men’s 86kg freestyle

The former world junior champion, Deepak Punia too booked his slot for the Tokyo Olympics at the 2019 world championships in Nur-Sultan.

Going into the worlds meet after winning a title win in the junior championships in the preceding month, Deepak Punia impressed at the senior level to storm into the final of the 86kg freestyle category. 

While the young Indian sealed a quota place for the Olympics, Deepak Punia damaged his ankle during the 2019 worlds. It cost him a gold medal in Nur-Sultan.

But with the COVID-19 pandemic acting as a blessing in disguise, the 22-year-old Deepak has had enough time to recuperate from the injury.

Seema Bisla - women’s 50kg

Seema Bisla began her Olympic year at the Asian Olympic qualifiers where she missed out on making the Olympic grade. But the 29-year-old Indian wrestler showed her quality at the Asian championships soon after and clinched a bronze medal in the 50kg weight division.

The win in the Asian meet saw Seema being included in the Indian team for the world Olympic qualifiers in Bulgaria in May. There, Seema Bisla sealed her Olympic participation by winning a gold medal.

Vinesh Phogat - women’s 53kg

After her Olympic debut at Rio 2016 ended in heartbreak, Indian wrestler Vinesh Phogat will be determined to set a few records straight when she heads into her second Summer Games at Tokyo 2020.

Vinesh Phogat sealed her place at the Tokyo Games in the 53kg category with a bronze medal at the 2019 world championships.

The Olympic year has seen Vinesh win four straight gold medals at international meets with the latest coming at the Poland Open Ranking Series event in June.

Anshu Malik - women’s 57kg

Anshu Malik, 19, made her senior debut at the Matteo Pellicone ranking series in Rome last year and won a silver medal. Anshu then won a bronze at the Asian championships in New Delhi and a silver at the Individual World Cup in Belgrade.

Anshu Malik couldn’t win another medal at the Matteo Pellicone event this year. However, the Indian wrestler sealed her Olympic participation with a silver at the Asian Olympic qualifiers in Almaty in April before clinching the gold at the Asian championships, also in the same city.

Sonam Malik - women’s 62kg

Having replaced the Rio Olympic bronze medallist Sakshi Malik as India’s leading 62kg wrestler, Sonam Malik will be hoping to make the most of her opportunity.

Sonam Malik, who has a 4-0 record against Sakshi Malik, booked her place at the Summer Games with a silver medal at the Asian Olympic qualifiers in Almaty in April.

But Sonam has been dealing with bouts of injuries. She hurt her elbow last year, then injured her head when sparring with Sakshi earlier this year and then suffered a knee injury. As a result, she was forced to withdraw from some much-needed competitions like the Matteo Pellicone and the Asian championships.