Paris Olympics 2024: Vinesh, Anshu, Reetika qualify; Indian Greco Roman, freestyle wrestlers fail to make cut

The Asian Olympic Games qualifiers in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, have thrown up mixed results for the Indian wrestlers. While Vinesh Phogat (50 kg), Anshu Malik (57 kg), and Reetika (76 kg) won Paris Olympics 2024 quota places, the freestyle and Greco Roman wrestlers cut a sorry figure after failing to qualify for the quadrennial Games.

In the Greco Roman category, Sunil (87 kg) was the only Indian to advance from the first round, while Ashu (67 kg), Sumit (60 kg), Vikas (77 kg), Nitesh (97 kg) and Naveen (130 kg) lost their first round bouts.

Sunil beat Japan’s Soh Sakabe 5-1 in the first round and lost to Uzbekistan’s Jalgasbay Berdimuratov in the quarterfinals. Although he started well and led the bout, he lost 2-4 after the Uzbekistan support staff successfully challenged the referee’s decisions.

Ashu was outplayed by Uzbekistan’s Abror Atabaev by technical superiority in less than two minutes.

Although the Indian Greco Roman wrestlers have one more chance to qualify for the Paris Olympics when they compete at the World Qualifiers, the last time an Indian Greco Roman wrestler competed at the Olympics was in 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, when Ravinder Khatri and Hardeep Singh won their places.

The Indian freestyle wrestlers also did not do better, as Aman Sehrawat (57 kg), Jaideep (74 kg), Deepak Nehra (97 kg), and Sumit (125 kg) failed to get wins under their belts.

Aman got the better of Kazakhstan’s Yerassyl Mukhtaruly 10-0 in the first round and comfortably beat South Korea’s Sunggwon Kim 11-1 in the quarter-finals. However, he was stopped by Uzbekistan’s Gulomjon Abdullaev in the semi-finals as he pinned the Indian to a 10-0 win.

It was bad luck for freestyle wrestlers Sujeet Kalkal (65 kg) and Olympian Deepak Punia (86 kg), as they were stranded in Dubai due to incessant rains and floods and could not reach Bishkek in time for the matches.