Greco-Roman: Indian wrestlers fail to book Olympic berth

India’s Greco-Roman wrestlers got off to a disappointing start at the 1st OG World Olympic Qualifying tournament on Friday as none of them could make it to the medal round in their respective weight categories here. In the previous tournament last month -- Asian Olympic Qualification tournament -- Hardeep (98kg) created history by becoming the first Indian Greco-Roman wrestler to secure an Olympic berth after 2004 Athens Games, when Mausam Khatri had made the cut. But Hardeep’s qualification failed to inspire others and every one in the fray on Friday went down at the early stages of the competition itself to bow out of the tournament. Now they are left with just one chance to book a ticket to Rio Games at the the last Olympic qualifier – 2nd World Qualification tournament -- scheduled to be held at Istanbul, Turkey. Gaurav Sharma (59kg), Ravinder Khatri (85kg) and Naveen (130kg) crashed out of the tournament after going down in their respective pre-quarterfinal bouts, while Ravinder (66kg) and Harpreet Singh (75kg) failed to even clear the qualification round hurdle.