Six Indian Greco-Roman wrestlers fell short of securing quotas for the Paris Olympics 2024 during the Asian Wrestling Qualifiers held on Sunday. The tournament, adhering to a bracket system, grants quotas to two finalists from each weight category, without provision for gold medal matches or repechage bouts, as outlined on Olympics.com. Among the Indian wrestlers, Vikas, Sunil Kumar, Nitesh, and Naveen suffered defeats in the quarterfinals, while Sumit and Ashu bowed out of contention in the qualification rounds.
Among the Indian Greco-Roman wrestlers, Sunil Kumar, an Asian Games bronze medalist, stood out as the sole victor, securing a win at least. In the 87kg weight category qualification round, he triumphed over Japan’s Soh Sakabe with a score of 5-1. However, his journey halted in the final eight bout when he faced Uzbekistan’s reigning Asian Games champion and succumbed to defeat.
In the 77kg weight division, Vikas suffered a defeat with a score of 7-0 against China’s Rui Liu. Similarly, Nitesh’s campaign in the 97kg division ended in the quarterfinals after a loss to Uzur Dzhuzupbekov of Kyrgyzstan, a former Asian champion. In the 130kg weight class, Naveen experienced a 9-1 loss against China’s Seungchan Lee.
The Indian men’s freestyle wrestlers also fell short of securing quotas for the Paris 2024 Olympics. Aman Sehrawat missed out on a quota by just one win.
However, in Indian women’s wrestling, Saturday witnessed remarkable success. Vinesh Phogat (50kg), Anshu Malik (57kg), and Reetika Hooda (76kg) secured quotas for the Paris 2024 Olympics.
India has secured four wrestling quotas for the Paris 2024 Olympics, all of which have been earned by women wrestlers. Antim Panghal clinched the first quota for India by winning a bronze medal in the women’s 53 kg category at last year’s World Championships.
The continental qualifier that concluded on Sunday represented the penultimate chance for Indian wrestlers to secure quotas. The final opportunity will be the World Qualification Tournament in Turkey, slated for May, which will serve as the last wrestling qualifier for Paris 2024.