CWG gold medallist Naveen, Pankaj Malik win Wrestling World Championships selection trials
Three Commonwealth Games winning wrestlers, Olympic medalists Ravi Dahiya (57kg) and Bajrang Punia (65kg) and Worlds silver medallist Deepak Punia (86kg), were exempted from the trials.
Published : Aug 30, 2022 20:49 IST
FILE PHOTO: Wrestler Naveen Malik earned the men’s freestyle 70kg place in the Indian squad for the World wrestling championships
Commonwealth Games champion Naveen Malik on Tuesday earned the men’s freestyle 70kg place in the squad for the World wrestling championships, to be held in Belgrade, Serbia from September 10.
Naveen, who claimed the Commonwealth Games gold in 74kg, returned to his usual 70kg weight category for the selection trials held at Sonipat. He defeated Vishal Kaliraman 10-0 in the final.
Pankaj Malik upset former Worlds bronze medallist Rahul Aware 10-0 to take the 61kg slot.
Three Commonwealth Games winning wrestlers, Olympic medalists Ravi Dahiya (57kg) and Bajrang Punia (65kg) and Worlds silver medallist Deepak Punia (86kg), were exempted from the trials.
While Ravi is training in Vladikavkaz, Russia, Bajrang and Deepak are training in Michigan, USA.
Meanwhile, the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) said that re-trial would be held for the women's 50kg weight category, in which Ankush was declared the winner.
"The retrial is being done due to the referee's mistake. We had referred the (final) bout to United World Wrestling. The referee will be penalised and we will do the retrial (between Ankush and Neelam) tomorrow," said WFI assistant secretary Vinod Tomar.