Wrestling
Priya Malik, Jaideep headline Indian U-23 Wrestling team for Asian Championships
Priya Malik, Jaideep, and Antim Kundu emerged as winners in the trials for the U-23 Indian wrestling team for the Asian Championships.
Priya Malik (Source: United World Wrestling)
New Delhi: U20 World Champion Priya Malik, U20 Worlds medalist Antim Kundu, and Jaideep are set to headline the Indian wrestling team at the U23 Asian Championships after winning the trials on Saturday at Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium, Delhi.
The trials for the U17 and U23 Asian Championships were conducted by the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) over two days. The tournament will take place from 22nd June to 30th June in Amman, Jordan.
After missing an Olympic berth, Jaideep dominate men's freestyle
Jaideep, who missed the Olympic berth last month in the World qualifiers, won the 74kg category trial with a dominant show. Jaideep faced some resistance from Vijay in the semi-final but overcame to win 14-3.
In the final, it was a dominant affair as Jaideep defeated Saurabh Sehrawat of Delhi with much ease.
Rohit, who defeated Bajrang Punia in the trials in March, won the trials with a good show as he overcame Mohit in the final.
However, the most surprising result was in 79kg where Commonwealth Games medalist Naveen was stunned by Amit of Services in the final. Amit didn't give any chance to Naveen and defeated him 11-0.
Priya Malik register a dominant win in Women's 76kg
U20 World Champion Priya Malik made her dominance count as she steamrolled past the whole draw with ease and defeated Bipasha in the final to book her berth.
Another U20 World Championships medalist Antim Kundu overcame Monika in 65kg.
In the 55kg category, another world medalist Sito was met with tough competition as Bhavika of Gujarat almost knocked her out. In a neck-to-neck game, Bhavika was leading 13-12 till the last ten seconds.
However, Sito took her down and got two points to make it 14-13 and reach the final. In the final, Sito defeated Dhanshree to book her berth.
Indian U-23 Wrestling Team for Asian Championships:
Men's Freestyle: Shubham (57kg), Nikhil (61kg), Rohit (65kg), Abhimanyou (70kg), Jaideep (74kg), Amit (79kg), Ashish (86kg), Jointy (92kg), Sahil (97kg), Anirudh (125kg).
Women's: Meenakshi (50kg), Tamanna (53kg), Sito (55kg), Reena (57kg), Pushpa (59kg), Nikita (62kg), Antim (65kg), Priyanka (68kg), Arju (72kg), Priya Malik (76kg).
Greco-Roman: Vishwajit (55kg), Suraj (60kg), Ankit (63kg), Vinayak Patil (67kg), Ashu Pal (72kg), Sagar Thakran (77kg), Deepak Punia (82kg), Tejpal (87kg), Nitesh (97kg), Sonu (130kg).
