World championship medallist Antim Panghal and fellow Olympian Reetika Hooda are among the grapplers selected in the Indian squad for the upcoming Asian Wrestling Championship to be held in Amman, Jordan from March 25 to 30. The squad was picked in trials organized by the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) at New Delhi's Indira Gandhi Sports Complex on Saturday, March 15. (More Sports News)
Deepak Punia was another prominent name to be selected. The 25-year-old shifted from his usual 86kg category, competing in the non-Olympic 92kg weight class in the trials. The wrestler told 바카라 that he'll revert to the 86kg category for the world championship, and is only playing in the 92kg class for the Asian event.
The following wrestlers have been selected for the Asian Championship, according to a WFI release:
Men's freestyle: Chirag (57kg), Udit (61kg), Sujit (65kg), Vishal Kaliraman (70kg), Jaideep (74kg), Chandermohan (79kg), Mukul Dahiya (86kg), Deepak Punia (92kg), Jointy Kumar (97kg), Dinesh (125 kg).
Men's Greco-Roman: Nitin (55kg), Sumit (60kg), Umesh (63kg), Neeraj (67kg), Kuldeep Malik (72kg), Sagar (77kg), Rahul (82kg), Sunil Kumar (87kg), Nitesh (97kg), Prem (130kg).
Women's: Ankush (50kg), Antim (53kg), Nishu (55kg), Neha Sharma (57kg), Muskan (59kg), Manisha (62kg), Monika (65kg), Mansi Lathar (68kg), Jyoti Berwal (72kg), Reetika (76kg).
WFI was finally allowed to hold the trials following the restoration of its status as a national sports federation. The trials were the first proper one under the supervision of the new federation administration as it was suspended three days after it held election on December 21, 2023 to pick new office bearers.
The federation could not select national teams during the suspension period as wrestlers who had protested against the ousted WFI supremo Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh had taken WFI to the court, questioning its authority. The suspension was revoked after it was found that WFI has taken corrective measures like moving out its office from Brij Bhushan's premises.
