The wrestling squad for the Asian Games was finally completed after Sandeep Tomar won the selection trials in the 57kg freestyle category at the Sai Training Centre in Sonepat on Tuesday.
Rio Olympian Tomar got the better of Utkarsh Kale to book his spot following the three-way tie that was necessitated after three main wrestlers — Tomar, Kale and Ravi Kumar — were tied on points during the earlier trials. Tomar fought back from being 2-6 down to level scores and was declared winner by virtue of winning the last scoring point. Kale beat Ravi 10-0 in the other bout.
CWG gold medallist Rahul Aware, on whose request the trials had been delayed by almost a week to get more time to prepare, withdrew citing injury. Wrestling Federation of India officials said he had submitted a medical certificate claiming a ligament tear in his right knee.
Meanwhile, trials in three of the remaining four freestyle non-Olympic weight categories for the World Championships were also completed with Pankaj Rana (70kg), Sachin Rathi (79kg) and CWG bronze medallist Sombir (92kg) ensuring their spots.
Trials in the 61kg would be held at a later stage to allow wrestlers from 57kg also to participate if they manage to make the grade.
Also, as reported earlier, trials for World Championships in the 65kg and 74kg would be held after the Asian Games. Bajrang Punia and Sushil Kumar were named directly in the Asiad squad. While Bajrang would face Praveen (lone entry in 65kg), Sushil would take on the winner of preliminary trials in the 74kg, to be held at a later date.
The preliminary trials were postponed after a request from Praveen Rana, Sushil’s closest competitor, following the passing away of his mother.
In the Greco-Roman trials in non-Olympic weight categories, Gaurav (63kg), Vijay (55kg), Kuldeep Malik (72) and Manjeet (82kg) qualified for the World Championships.
