Sushil sets sights on World C’ships
20 April 2015 1:45 AM GMT
Double Olympic medallist wrestler Sushil Kumar has set his sights on the prestigious World Championships in the United States in September to start his preparations for next year’s Rio Games in right earnest.
Sushil, who will skip next month’s Asian Championships in Doha, on Sunday said that he would take part in some events in the run-up to the World Championships (September 7-12) in Las Vegas, which will also serve as a qualifying event for the 2016 Rio Olympics.
“Our federation took the decision that the juniors would be given the chance for exposure in the Asian Championships and so the seniors, including me, have not been named in the Indian team,” Sushil said on the sidelines of a grassroot football programme organised by India Youth Soccer Association here.
“I will definitely take part in the World Championships. I will take part in a few events before World Championships to be fully prepared for the top event,” he added. It is learnt that most of the top wrestlers, including another Olympic medallist Yogeshwar Dutt, have set their sights on the World Championships as they do not want injuries before any Olympic qualifying event. Next month’s Asian Championships is not an Olympic qualifying event.
“Asian Championship is not an Olympic qualifying event and so the top wrestlers do not want to take part in it because you never know they may pick up an injury. Olympics is the ultimate for any athlete, they want to qualify for it and once you are injured you never know when you will be in the best of your shape,” an official said. Sushil has not taken part in any international event after 2014 CWG.
WFI pick 48 grapplers for Asian meet
Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) has selected 48 grapplers, including 16 women, to represent the country at the senior Asian Wrestling Championship in Doha from May 5-10 and the Commonwealth Wrestling Championship in Toronto from June 5-7. The tournaments will include both freestyle and grecoroman categories. According to a WFI spokesman here on Sunday, the trials for men team was held at Lucknow while the women’s trials was held at Sonepat in Haryana.
Wrestlers who got the first place in their weight category are eligible to participate in the Senior Asian Championship while those who were first and second in their weight categories will participate in the Commonwealth Championship, the WFI spokesman said. Teams Men (freestyle): 57 kg: Rahul Aware, Sandeep 61 kg: Sonu, Harphool 65 kg: Rajneesh, Manoj Kumar 70 kg: Parween Rana, Amit Dhankhar 74 kg: Narsingh Yadav, Pardeep 86 kg: Somvir, Manjeet 97 kg: Mausam Khatri, Satya Vart 125 kg: Hitender, Krishan. Grecoroman: 59 kg: Nitin, Gaurav Sharma 66 kg: Anil Kumar, Yogesh Kumar 71 kg: K K Yadav, M Rafiq 75 kg: Sonu, Parmod 80 kg: Harpreet Singh, Vivek Yadav 85 kg: Ram Vir, Ajay 98 kg: Hardeep, Bhim Singh 130 kg: Naveen, Mehar Singh. Women 48 kg Vinesh, Ritu 53 kg: Babita Kumari, Seema 55 kg: Lalita, Ritu Malik 58 kg: Geeta, Sarika 60 kg: Sakshi, Pooja Dhanda 63 kg: Anita Sheoran, Geetika Jakhar 69 kg: Suman Kundu, Navjot Kaur 75 kg: Anshu Tomar, Kiran.
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