National Wrestling Championships 2024: Naveen Malik secures 74kg freestyle title

Commonwealth Games champion Naveen Malik overcame a stiff resistance from Yash to secure the 74 kg freestyle wrestling title on the final day of the National Wrestling Championships at Jaipur’s Railway Stadium here.
In a closely-fought finalon Monday, Naveen beat Yash by 5-4, as per Olympics.com.
In a 65 kg freestyle final, Under-20 World Championship bronze winner Sujeet Kalkal secured a 12-2 win over Rohit via technical superiority.
Bajrang Punia, competing in a 65 kg event, has skipped the wrestling nationals.
Vicky Chahar, an Asian Championships bronze medalist, walked away with the bronze medal in the 97 kg category, defeating Karandeep Singh Nahal in the final. In the same category, Gaurav Baliyan had to settle for a bronze medal. Baliyan made a change in his weight category from 79 kg to 97 kg with an eye on the Paris Olympics this year.
Competitions were held across 10 different weight categories in Jaipur, with six categories, 57kg, 65kg, 74kg, 86kg, 97kg and 125kg – being Olympic categories and four – 61kg, 70kg, 79kg and 92kg – being non-Olympic divisions. Rahul secured a 57 kg title. The Tokyo Olympics silver medalist Ravi Dahiya, who also happens to contest in the same weight class, skipped the event.
Aakash Dahiya, who played in the World Championships last year, defeated Sahil Kundu by 11-0 technical superiority to secure a 61 kg freestyle wrestling title.