Indian Wrestling Thread ...

[sameerph]

This is a nice article on Narsingh in sports star -


Segueing from mud pits to mats

[sameerph]

In the Asian olympic qualifier at Astana, Kazakhstan, Yogeshwar Dutt bagged our second Rio Olympics quota place in wrestling winning the gold in 65 kgs.

He beat Ju Song Kim of North Korea 8-1 in the first round, then beat Xuan Dinh Nguyen of Vietnam by fall in the QF and overcame Seungchul Lee of South Korea 7-2 to reach the final and get the quota for India ( as top 2 were eligible for quota). He got a walkover in the finals.

This is the 4th consecutive olympics which Yogeshwar will be participating. Excellent performance by him

There were 4 other Indians who lost in the SF - Babita Kumari and Sakshi Malik in women and Rahul Aware and Satywart Kadian in men. So, they could have got the quota if they had won their SF but it was not to be.

One more day to go tomorrow and hope someone qualifies on last day.

[jaydeep]

Today Hardeep Singh qualify for Rio Olympics after reaching the final of Men's Greco-Roman 98 kg ... In the final he gives walkover to his Chinese opponent for Silver.

Men's Greco-Roman 98 kg

[R1] Hardeep Singh (IND) bye
[QF] Hardeep Singh (IND) bt Arslan Saparmamedov (TKM) 9-0
[SF] Hardeep Singh (IND) bt Margulan Assembekov (KAZ) 11-2

[F] Hardeep Singh (IND) l Xiao Di (CHN) w/o

[sameerph]

Yes, that was a surprise quota in Greco-Roman. So, overall we have 3 quotas now. Other than those 2 quotas gained, there were 5 others who got the bronze and narrowly missed the quota - Vinesh ,Babita & Anita in women, Satyawat Kadian in mens freestyle and Ravinder in Greco Roman. Out of these, Kadian and Vinesh were lost in a last minute and were quite unlucky.

There are more olympic qualification tournaments to be played in April and May where 5 quotas per category will be available. Lets hope that we get at least 3-4 more quota to make it 6-8 total wrestlers in Rio ( as against 5 last time).

[arjun2761]

Hopefully, some more of our freestyle wrestlers (both men and women) make it as they could be medal prospects. I'm not sure that Asian standards in Greco Roman are that high, so qualification in Greco Roman may not mean much as far as Olympic medal prospects.

[jaydeep]

Hopefully, some more of our freestyle wrestlers (both men and women) make it as they could be medal prospects. I'm not sure that Asian standards in Greco Roman are that high, so qualification in Greco Roman may not mean much as far as Olympic medal prospects.

Arjun, still after 2004 our wrestler qualify in Greco-Roman ... Creditable performance by Hardeep Singh.

[sameerph]

I'm not sure that Asian standards in Greco Roman are that high, so qualification in Greco Roman may not mean much as far as Olympic medal prospects.

Asian are not that bad in Greco-Roman. In the world championships last year, Asians won 8 out of 24 possible medals which was comparable to how they did in mens freestyle ( 9 out of 24 medals). No titles in any of the weight categories in men - freestyle and Greco Roman.

But, I agree in the context of our wrestlers, Hardeep Singh will be in his first olympics. So, it will be a miracle if he goes to the medal rounds. On the other hand - 2 freestyle wrestlers who have qualified - Narsingh Yadav and Yogeshwar Dutt have experience and can be termed as real medal prospects. We had third one in Amit Kumar in 57 Kg. who should have medal prospect based on the silver he won at the world championships couple of years back. But, he has been injured. Rahul Aware and Sandip Tomar have upstaged him in that weight class but are inexperienced. Any medal chances in the heavier 3 weight classes are dim.

In womens wrestling, if we can get a few to qualify they can be medal prospects especially in lower weight categories as depth is generally lower among women.

[srini]

Do we have better medal prospects in a depleted field? These doping bans can improve our qualification chances too if Georgia has significant number banned.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/spor ... 513534.cms

[Tolamu]

In Mongolia Olympic Games Wrestling Qualifiers, out of 5 Indians 3 lost in R1. Ravinder now is out of contention in 66kg. But Gaurav Sharma(59kg) and Harpreet Singh(75kg) may have repechage chances (so far).
Another one bites the dust. Ravinder Khatri (85kg).

[Tolamu]

Now it is the turn of Naveen (130kg) to lose. No repechage chances for all the 5 Indians.

6 Indian women in action tomorrow.

[ankit1407]

well this is pretty much expected, GR wrestlers are never going to be in contention even if they do make it to Rio

[Tolamu]

The 6 lining up for action tomorrow are Vinesh(48kg), Babita(53kg), Geeta(58kg), Anita(63kg), Navjot(67kg) & Jyoti(75kg).

But when the draw for R1 was out, Vinesh was missing in the draw. Either she is injured or missed the weight.

[sameerph]

Vinesh was our best prospect among women to qualify from here and she misses out. That is the kind of luck we are having these days in sports.

[arjun2761]

Yes, in my mind she was one of our few medal prospects. Is this the last opportunity for her to qualify?

[sameerph]

No, she has one more chance in another Olympic qualifier next month But, it is cutting too fine for someone who is a medal prospect.