Punia suffered a crushing 1-9 defeat in the men’s freestyle 65kg semifinal against Rohit Kumar. The following defeat was after he barely managed to win against Ravinder (3-3 on criteria) in the opening round.

Punia would have been eliminated in the opening bout itself if Ravinder had not conceded a caution point in the bout.

For the trials, Punia had trained in Russia, which is being organized by the IOA ad-hoc panel.

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He won a case in the Delhi High Court after contending that the suspended Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) had no authority to conduct trials.

After being eliminated, Punia left the Sports Authority of India (SAI) Centre in Haryana’s Sonipat. Though the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) officials tried to collect a sample for a dope test from Punia he did not stay back even for the third-fourth place bout.

Earlier, Punia was a prominent face of protest against former WFI President Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh.

Now Sujeet Kalakal will strive to earn qualification in the 65kg for the Paris Games after winning a spot in the Indian team.

Sujeet had lost a legal case against Punia when he had challenged his direct entry for the Hangzhou Asian Games. Sujeet beat Rohit by technical superiority in the final.

Rohit will now represent India at the Asian Championships.

The winners at the trials will get the opportunity to compete at the Asian and World Olympic Qualifiers to be held in Bishkek from April 19-21 and in Istanbul from May 9-12.

The men’s 57kg was always a tough category since both Tokyo Games silver medallist Ravi Dahiya and star-in-making Aman Sehrawat were in contention.

Dahiya, who is making a comeback from an injury, lost the high-scoring opening bout 13-14 to Aman. Both of them train at Chhatarsal Stadium.

Aman will represent India at the Olympic Qualifiers in 57kg and given the talent he possesses, he stands a good chance to succeed.

India has so far earned only one quota for the Paris Games through Antim Panghal (women’s 53kg).

Other wrestlers to win trials were — Jaideep (74kg), Deepak Punia (86kg), Deepak Nehra (97kg), and Sumit Malik (125kg).

Indian team for the Asian Qualifiers:

57kg Aman Sherawat

65kg Sujeet Kalkal

74kg Jaideep

86kg Deepak Punia

97kg Deepak Nehra

125kg Sumit Malik.

Results of selection trials:

Men’s Freestyle:

57kg: 1. Aman (Haryana); 2. Udit (Railways); 3. Shubham (Haryana) and Ravi (Delhi)

61kg: 1. Aakash Dahiya (Services); 2. Nikhil (Delhi); 3. Mangal (Gujarat) and Abhishek Dhaka (UP)

65kg: 1. Sujeet (Haryana); 2. Rohit (Services); 3. Anuj (Goa) and Vishal Kaliraman (Railways)

70kg: 1. Abhimanyu (Delhi); 2. Sharwan (Services); 3. Naveen (Goa) and Ankit (Haryana)

74kg: 1. Jaideep (Haryana); 2. Yash (Railways); 3. Naveen (Services) and Vijay Kumar (Haryana)

79kg: 1. Parvinder (Haryana); 2. Sachin Mor (TRI); 3. Mohit Kumar (Delhi) and Sadashiv (Karnataka)

86kg: 1. Deepak Punia (Services); 2. Sandeep Singh (Punjab); 3. Sanjeet (Services) and Deepak (West Bengal)

92kg: 1. Vinay (Haryana); 2. Praveen Chahar (CGH); 3. Vicky (Services) and Parveen (Haryana)

97kg: 1. Deepak (Services); 2. Vicky (Haryana); 3. Karandeep Singh (Punjab)

125kg: 1. Sumeet (Haryana); 2. Anirudh (Railways); 3. Mahendera (Maharashtra) and Dinesh (Services)

Greco Roman:

55kg: 1. Arun Halakurki (Karnataka); 2. Lalit (Haryana); 3. Sanjeev (MP) and Rohit Yadav (Railways)

60kg: 1. Sumeet (Chandigarh); 2. Pravesh Kumar (Services); 3. Saurabh (UP) and Sunny Kumar (Haryana)

63kg: 1. Umesh (Delhi); 2. Parvin Patil (Mah); 3. Ankit (Delhi) and Vinay (TRI)

67kg: 1. Ashu (Railways); 2. Vinayak Patil (Services); 3. Deepak (Delhi) and Neeraj (Services)

72kg: 1. Ankit Gulia (Services); 2. Sameer (Mah); 3. Ajay Dagar (Haryana)

77kg: 1. Vikash (Railways); 2. Sajjan (Railways); 3. Karan (Gujarat) and Kuldeep Malik (Railways)

82kg: 1. Rohit Dahiya (Railways); 2. Rahul (Services); 3. Lovepreet Singh (Punjab) and Aman Kumar (Haryana)

87kg: 1. Sunil Kumar (Railways); 2. Ajay (Haryana); 3. Ravinder Khatri (Services) and Rohit Bura (MP)

97kg: 1. Nitesh (Railways); 2. Narinder Cheema (Punjab); 3. Sonu (Haryana) and Vijender (Delhi)

130kg: 1. Naveen (Services); 2. Mehar Singh (Gujarat); 3. Sonu (Delhi) and Hardeep (Railways).

With agency inputs.

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Published: 10 Mar 2024, 11:03 PM IST