<p><strong>Sonepat:</strong> Bajrang Punia and Ravi Dahiya -- the Tokyo Games medallists -- were on Sunday eliminated from the race for the Paris Olympics qualification after losing their respective bouts in the selection trials for the national team.</p> <p>Punia, who was a prominent face of protest against former WFI President Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, suffered a crushing 1-9 defeat in the men's freestyle 65kg semifinal against Rohit Kumar.</p> <p>This was after he barely managed to win against Ravinder (3-3 on criteria) in the opening round.</p> <p>If Ravinder had not conceded a caution point in the bout, Punia would have been eliminated in the opening bout itself.</p> <p>Punia had trained in Russia to prepare for the trials, which are being organised by the IOA ad-hoc panel.</p> <p>Punia though won a case in the Delhi High Court after contending that the suspended Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) had no authority to conduct trials.</p> <p>He left the Sports Authority of India (SAI) Centre here in a huff after being eliminated. The National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) officials tried to collect a sample for a dope test from Punia but he did not stay back even for the third-fourth place bout. As fate would have it, it will be Sujeet Kalakal who will now strive to earn qualification in the 65kg for the Paris Games after winning a spot in the Indian team.</p> <p>Sujeet had lost a legal case against Punia when he had challenged his direct entry for the Hangzhou Asian Games. Sujeet beat Rohit by technical superiority in the final.</p> <p>"We have always done well in 65kg and Bajrang won a Olympic medal so it is a big responsibility for me to go and win a quota place for the country," Sujit said on Sunday.</p> <p>Rohit will now represent India at the Asian Championships.</p> <p>The winners at the trials will get the opportunity to compete at Asian and World Olympic Qualifiers to be held in Bishkek from April 19-21 and in Istanbul from May 9-12.</p> <p>The men's 57kg, being organised in Nordic format, was always a tough category since both Tokyo Games silver medallist Ravi Dahiya and star-in-making Aman Sehrawat were in contention.</p> <p>Dahiya, who is making a comeback from an injury, lost the high-scoring opening bout 13-14 to Aman. Both of them train at Chhatarsal Stadium.</p> <p>Aman has made a name for himself after winning medal at almost all tournaments in 2023 when Dahiya did not compete. Aman, the Asian Games bronze medallist, staved a last-minute push from Dahiya to win the close bout. Dahiya lost the next bout to U20 Asian champion Udit to be eliminated.</p> <p>Aman will represent India at the Olympic Qualifiers in 57kg and given the talent he possess, he stands a good chance to succeed.</p> <p>"Competing against Ravi is always tough but I prepared well for this tournament and worked on my game. I was preparing in Russia for last one month and that has helped me," an ecstatic Aman said after his bout.</p> <p>India have so far earned only one quota for the Paris Games through Antim Panghal (women's 53kg).</p> <p>Other wrestlers to win trials were -- Jaideep (74kg), Deepak Punia (86kg), Deepak Nehra (97kg) and Sumit Malik (125kg).</p> <p>Indian team for the Asian Qualifiers: 57kg Aman Sherawat 65kg Sujeet Kalkal 74kg Jaideep 86kg Deepak Punia 97kg Deepak Nehra 125kg Sumit Malik.</p> <p><strong>Results of selection trials:</strong> Men's Freestyle: 57kg: 1. Aman (Haryana); 2. Udit (Railways); 3. Shubham (Haryana) and Ravi (Delhi) 61kg: 1. Aakash Dahiya (Services); 2. Nikhil (Delhi); 3. Mangal (Gujarat) and Abhishek Dhaka (UP) 65kg: 1. Sujeet (Haryana); 2. Rohit (Services); 3. Anuj (Goa) and Vishal Kaliraman (Railways) 70kg: 1. Abhimanyu (Delhi); 2. Sharwan (Services); 3. Naveen (Goa) and Ankit (Haryana) 74kg: 1. Jaideep (Haryana); 2. Yash (Railways); 3. Naveen (Services) and Vijay Kumar (Haryana) 79kg: 1. Parvinder (Haryana); 2. Sachin Mor (TRI); 3. Mohit Kumar (Delhi) and Sadashiv (Karnataka) 86kg: 1. Deepak Punia (Services); 2. Sandeep Singh (Punjab); 3. Sanjeet (Services) and Deepak (West Bengal) 92kg: 1. Vinay (Haryana); 2. Praveen Chahar (CGH); 3. Vicky (Services) and Parveen (Haryana) 97kg: 1. Deepak (Services); 2. Vicky (Haryana); 3. Karandeep Singh (Punjab) 125kg: 1. Sumeet (Haryana); 2. Anirudh (Railways); 3. Mahendera (Maharashtra) and Dinesh (Services) Greco Roman: 55kg: 1. Arun Halakurki (Karnataka); 2. Lalit (Haryana); 3. Sanjeev (MP) and Rohit Yadav (Railways) 60kg: 1. Sumeet (Chandigarh); 2. Pravesh Kumar (Services); 3. Saurabh (UP) and Sunny Kumar (Haryana) 63kg: 1. Umesh (Delhi); 2. Parvin Patil (Mah); 3. Ankit (Delhi) and Vinay (TRI) 67kg: 1. Ashu (Railways); 2. Vinayak Patil (Services); 3. Deepak (Delhi) and Neeraj (Services) 72kg: 1. Ankit Gulia (Services); 2. Sameer (Mah); 3. Ajay Dagar (Haryana) 77kg: 1. Vikash (Railways); 2. Sajjan (Railways); 3. Karan (Gujarat) and Kuldeep Malik (Railways) 82kg: 1. Rohit Dahiya (Railways); 2. Rahul (Services); 3. Lovepreet Singh (Punjab) and Aman Kumar (Haryana) 87kg: 1. Sunil Kumar (Railways); 2. Ajay (Haryana); 3. Ravinder Khatri (Services) and Rohit Bura (MP) 97kg: 1. Nitesh (Railways); 2. Narinder Cheema (Punjab); 3. Sonu (Haryana) and Vijender (Delhi) 130kg: 1. Naveen (Services); 2. Mehar Singh (Gujarat); 3. Sonu (Delhi) and Hardeep (Railways)<br /><br /><em><strong>(This report has been published as part of the auto-generated syndicate wire feed. Apart from the headline, no editing has been done in the copy by ABP Live.)</strong></em></p>
from 'You Will Truly Make A Difference': Irfan Pathan Reacts To Yusuf Pathan's Foray Into Electoral Politics https://ift.tt/E6sywgK
from 'You Will Truly Make A Difference': Irfan Pathan Reacts To Yusuf Pathan's Foray Into Electoral Politics https://ift.tt/E6sywgK