Deepak Punia’s Olympic qualification suffered a heavy jolt as he lost his first round at the World Qualifiers.
Indian wrestlers Aman Sehrawat (57kg) and Asian Games silver medallist Deepak Punia (86kg) are set to lead the Indian contingent at the World Olympic Games qualifier.
It is to be noted that in the absence of Deepak Punia, young star Aman Sehrawat will lead the men’s team in the 57kg category.
Notably, the Indian wrestlers had a better result in the Games than the 2018 edition of Asian Games.
While Deepak Punia won a bronze medal in the 77kg category, Sumit made it to the final of the 60 kg category of the Greco-Roman competition.
Punia recently won gold medal in the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.
The camp, which has been approved under the Union Sports Ministry’s Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS), is set to last for 19 days.
Punia took the early lead of 3 points in the first round against the CWG 2010 and 2018 wrestling gold medallist Inam.
The medal matches are set to commence at 09:30 pm (IST).
What helped India avoiding a potential ban and saving a medal was that Nenad Lalovic, the UWW president, spoke in WFI’s favour.
Deepak was in the driver’s seat until the last 20 seconds, but a brilliant move from Amine saw him losing the game.
In the lifetime achievement category (Dronacharya), the names of Jagroop Rathi, R K Hooda and R S Kundu have been nominated.
It is further being learned that the 2019 World Championships bronze-winner suffered the injury a couple of days before leaving for Warsaw during a practice session.