New Delhi: Olympians Antim Panghal, Deepak Punia and Reetika Hooda stamped their authority on the mat during the national trials on Saturday as they earned their spot in the Indian team for the upcoming Asian Wrestling Championships in Amman, Jordan.
Days after the union sports ministry revoked the suspension of the Wrestling Federation of India’s (WFI), the sport’s governing body conducted trials at the Indira Gandhi Sports Complex in New Delhi for the continental event, scheduled from March 25 to 30.
As many as 30 wrestlers across weight categories in men’s freestyle, Greco-Roman and women’s freestyle were selected on Saturday. However, 2024 Paris Olympics bronze medallist Aman Sehrawat missed the trials due to injury.
Panghal, competing in women’s 53 kg, will make her return to the Asian Championships after missing out last year’s event due to injury. In the 2023 edition, the 20-year-old picked up the silver medal, losing in the final to Japan’s Akari Fujinami.
On Saturday, the 2023 World Championships bronze medallist had a rather easy route to her national team spot, as her weight division was contested by only three wrestlers. Panghal won her two bouts in the round robin format to earn her spot.
Making a return to competitive wrestling after a brief hiatus was Deepak Punia, who just missed out on a medal at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. Punia, who has competed in the men’s freestyle 86 kg for long, wrestled in the 92 kg category, which is a non-Olympic division.
{{/usCountry}}Making a return to competitive wrestling after a brief hiatus was Deepak Punia, who just missed out on a medal at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. Punia, who has competed in the men’s freestyle 86 kg for long, wrestled in the 92 kg category, which is a non-Olympic division.
{{/usCountry}}Mukul Dahiya won the trials in the 86 kg event while Chirag will compete in Sehrawat’s 57 kg event.
Paris Olympian Reetika Hooda won the trials in her regular 76 kg category. She had won bronze in the 72 kg category at the 2023 Asian Championships.
The trials is the first step for WFI in the attempted revival of a sport that has been in turmoil since the association was suspended by the sports ministry in December 2023. During the period of suspension, WFI was unable to organise trials for any international competitions after several high-profile wrestlers questioned the federation’s authority following their protest against former WFI chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh for alleged sexual harassment.
The federation having resumed its activities, creating a domestic calendar, organising national camps and sending teams for international tournaments and exposure trips are listed as its top priorities.
Organisers of the trials on Saturday did provide a generous leeway as competitors were given a two kg weight relaxation.
Along with Sehrawat, there were a few more grapplers who had withdrawn from the trials citing injury. National Games gold medallist Mohit skipped the event, and so did Yash Tushir in the men’s 74 kg category.