World Olympic Wrestling Qualifiers 2024: India end with two quotas

Indian wrestlers, led by Aman Sehrawat and Nisha Dahiya, concluded the World Olympic Wrestling Qualifiers in Istanbul, Turkiye with two Paris 2024 quotas after Sujeet Kalkal and Jaideep Ahlawat lost their bronze medal matches on Sunday.

Sujeet Kalkal, competing in the 65kg, reached the semi-finals on Saturday but lost to the Asian Games champion Tomor-Ochiryn Tulga of Mongolia. On Sunday, he was beaten by USA’s Zain Retherford on criteria after scores were level on 2-2.

The two finalists in each division obtained Paris 2024 Olympic quotas for their respective countries at the Istanbul meet. The third quota, meanwhile, went to the winner of the playoff bout between the two bronze medallists in the weight class.

Bajrang Punia, who had won the bronze medal in the men’s 65kg at the Tokyo Olympics, did not make the Indian wrestling team for the qualifiers.

Jaideep Ahlawat, who entered the repechage rounds in the 74kg after losing the quarter-final, suffered a narrow 2-1 defeat in the bronze medal match against Soner Demirtas of Turkiye on Sunday. He beat Turkmenistan’s Arslan Amanmyradov 11-0 in the repechage.

A total of 14 Indian wrestlers took part at the Istanbul meet from May 9 to 12.

Aman Sehrawat, the Asian champion and the U23 world champion, secured a Paris 2024 quota for India in the men’s 57kg on Saturday. It was India’s first Paris 2024 quota in men’s freestyle wrestling.

Ravi Kumar Dahiya, a silver medallist at the Tokyo Olympics in the 57kg, also did not make the Indian team for the qualifiers. Deepak Punia, who finished fifth at the Tokyo Olympics, missed out on a quota in the men’s 86kg in Istanbul.