In what is the last chance for our Indian wrestlers to qualify for the Paris 2024 Olympics, the Greco-Roman pugilists struggled again at the World Olympic Games Qualifiers. All six contenders from India bowed out in the preliminary rounds itself, on Thursday. Sumit (60kg), Ashu (67kg), Vikas (77kg), Sunil Kumar (87kg), Nitesh (97kg) and Naveen (130kg) lost their bouts.
In the 60kg category, Sumit lost his opening bout to Romania’s Razvan Arnaut 0-10, while in 67kg, Ashu first bear his Norwegian opponent Haavard Joergensen 5-4, but then lost to Hungary’s Krisztina Vancza 0-10. Come the 77kg category matches, Vikas beat Riccardo Abbrescia of Italy. But then he lost to Georgia’s Luri Lomadze 0-8.
Sunil Kumar, in the 87kg category was one of the better performers on the day as he first beat Jose Andres Vargas 3-1, but then lost a close bout against Azerbaijan’s Rafig Huseynov 3-4 in the pre-quarters.
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World Olympic Qualifiers Massive Failure
It was a poor performance by the Indian wrestlers in the heavyweight categories. In the 97kg category, Nitesh was ousted in the qualification round, as he lost to Poland’s Tadeusz Michalik. Naveen met a similar fate in the 130kg category, where he lost in the qualification round to Austria’s Daniel Gastl on points.
All Eyes on Aman Sehrawat & Deepak Punia
After a massive failure by the Greco-Roman wrestlers, it is time to shift our focus to the freestyle wrestlers. On Friday, Aman Sehrawat (57kg), and Deepak Punia (86kg), would be India’s main contenders to get their tickets to the Paris 2024 Olympics. Also in the fray would be Sujeet (65kg), Jaideep (74kg), Deepak (97kg), and Sumit (125kg). In the women’s section, Mansi (62kg) and Nisha (68kg) would be in the fray too.
