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Stalwarts Ravi Dahiya, Bajrang Punia crash out in wrestling trials for Olympic qualifiers
Both the Tokyo Games freestyle medallists looked far from their best in the competition held in Haryana's Sonepat on Sunday.
Indian wrestling's turbulence off the mat hit the competitive arena on Sunday as Tokyo Olympic medallists Ravi Dahiya (65kg) and Bajrang Punia (57kg) crashed out of the selection trials for the Paris Olympics qualifiers here. The two giants of Indian wrestling left the Sports Authority of India centre in a huff, unable to hide their disappointment and tears.
Bajrang and Dahiya will not make it to the squad for the Asian Olympic qualifiers and World Olympic qualifiers where wrestlers will contest for Olympic quota places. Their only opportunity will come if Sujeet Kalkal, who won the 65kg trials, and Aman Sehrawat, who sealed his spot in 57kg, grab an Olympic quota and trials are then held at home to select the final team for Paris. This is as per the Olympics selection policy of the ad hoc committee, but there are ifs and buts considering the current mess in Indian wrestling.
On the mat, it was heart-breaking to watch Tokyo bronze medallist Bajrang’s waning powers. He was nowhere close to the power-packed wrestling he is known for. He barely survived in his opening 65kg bout against Ravinder, winning 3-3 on criteria. In the semi-finals against Rohit though, Bajrang could not stave off the upset, losing 9-1. Rohit led 2-1 in the first period and stepped up in the second with a fast attack, earning four points on the edge of the mat. He went up 8-1 and Bajrang could hardly make any attacking move to score.
Brute power, strength of his arms and belief to comeback from any situation – all those abilities that made him an Olympic medallist, multiple-time world championships medallist and a world No.1 – was not to be seen. Bajrang, gutted after the loss, went back to his corner and broke down. When the NADA team approached him for a urine sample, a dejected Bajrang did not oblige them. Soon, he left the stadium and did not report for the bronze medal match. An official said he sought exemption from the match on medical grounds.
In the last one year, Bajrang has been the face of the protests by wrestlers against the previous Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh. Last year, Bajrang competed in the Hangzhou Asian Games but did not participate in any international tournament after that, focusing on preparing for these selection trials. He had been training in Russia for the last one month.
"I have competed against Bajrang before also and I thought he was not having the same power today. He was hardly able to give time to wrestling with the protests and so much going around him, it is natural that it will take a toll," Rohit who touched Bajrang's feet after beating him, said.
Rohit though could not make the most of his big win and lost to young Sujeet Kalkal, the national champion and U20 world medallist, in the final. Sujeet made short work of Rohit, tying him in a fitley (leg lace) and rolling over for a 10-0 win.
The same fitley trick was employed by Aman Sehrawat in the 57kg final against Udit to win by superiority. Before that, Aman had to breach the defences of Ravi Dahiya, his training partner at Delhi's Chhatrasal Stadium, in what was the most entertaining bout of the day.
Aman, the 21-year-old Asian Championships gold medallist, has been making big moves in the weight category even as Ravi has grappled with form, fitness and injury. Ravi is coming off an ACL surgery, and though he looked good with his counter-attacking moves, lack of competition seemed to have led to a lack of sharpness. Dahiya, in fact, lost two matches in a row in the Nordic style draw of seven wrestlers. After losing a fast-paced attacking bout against Aman (14-13), he surprisingly fell to Udit, the U20 Asian champion (10-8).
Dahiya won his first bout 8-4 against Amit. The action-packed second bout against Aman, an Asian Games medallist, was a high-scoring thriller and Dahiya trailed 4-12 but forced his way back with some brilliant counters. However, it wasn’t enough. Soon after, Dahiya was in a must-win situation against Udit, but again trailed 2-8 in the first period from which he could not cover.
“Ravi has not competed in a long time and that was showing in his wrestling. The good thing was that he was scoring points and both bouts went so close. He will be back to his best but for now we have to wait and watch,” Chhatrasal coach Praveen Dahiya said.
The only Olympic quota India have won so far is through Antim Panghal. With the two stalwarts losing their way, India's Olympic preparations appear to be on a shaky ground.
Winners: Olympic weight categories
Freestyle: Aman Sehrawat (57kg), Sujeet Kalkal (65kg), Jaideep (74kg), Deepak Punia (86kg), Deepak (97kg), Sumeet (125kg)
Greco roman: Sumeet (60kg), Ashu (67kg), Vikash (77kg), Sunil Kumar (87kg), Nitesh (97kg), Naveen (130kg)
