Spotlight on Sushil Kumar in wrestling trials for Asian Olympic qualifiers
Two-time Olympic medallist Sushil Kumar and national champion Sandeep Singh Mann will face off in the 74kg category.
The wrestling trials to select the men's Indian team for the Asian Olympic qualifiers in April next month will be held on March 16 at the Indira Gandhi Stadium in New Delhi. Veteran Sushil Kumar, who has an eye on the Tokyo Olympics, will be in fray.
The selection trials will be restricted to Olympic categories and will be held at the KD Jadhav Indoor Hall for both freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestling. The final team will also participate in the Asian wrestling championships.
Both the Asian Olympic wrestling qualifiers (April 9-11) and the Asian Wrestling Championships (April 13-18) will be held in Almaty, Kazakhstan.
Dates for the women’s wrestling trials are yet to be decided, according to Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) assistant secretary Vinod Tomar. Trials for the Asian championships for non-Olympic categories will be held later as well.
Four Indian wrestlers have qualified for the Olympics at the 2019 World Wrestling Championships in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan.
Ravi Kumar Dahiya (57kg), Bajrang Punia (65kg) and Deepak Punia (86kg) have sealed a quota place in the men’s freestyle. Vinesh Phogat has clinched a berth in the women’s 53kg.
In men’s freestyle, Indian wrestlers can still qualify in the 74kg, 97kg and 125kg categories. And it will be in the 74kg that two-time Olympic medallist Sushil Kumar, national champion Sandeep Singh Mann and Narsingh Singh Yadav will be vying for a place.
All six spots for Greco-Roman are up for grabs.
Besides the Asian qualifiers, Indian wrestlers will also get a chance to seal a Tokyo 2020 berth at the World Olympic qualifiers in Sofia, Bulgaria in May.