Yogeshwar, Narsingh book World c'ship berths
8 July 2015 11:48 PM GMT
Yogeshwar, who got a bye in the initial round of Men's 65kg Freestyle, fought hard before prevailing over Amit Kumar Dhankhar in the final round bout. The bout that lasted six minutes, Yogeshwar won 6-3 to make it to World Championships to be held at Las Vegas from September 7-12, which will also be the first qualification tournament for next year's Rio Olympics.
In 74kg category, which lost its sheen because of the absence of Sushil who recently sustained an injury to his right shoulder, Narsingh Yadav made the cut but not before surviving some anxious moments. Narsingh faced Praveen Rana in the final bout, which was a closely-fought affair. Both wrestlers gave their best but in the end, Narsingh managed to have the last laugh as he eked out a narrow 6-5 win over his opponent to earn a World Championship berth.
There was another close battle in <g data-gr-id="27">57kg</g> category, where Amit Kumar got the better of Sandeep Tomar. Trailing 1-2, Amit turned in around in the last three seconds to earn two points and seal off the issue 3-2 in his favour.
Naresh Kumar (86kg), Mausam Khatri (97kg) and Sumit (125kg) are the others to have booked their places.
Sonu (61kg) and Arun (70kg) also won in their respective categories to make it to Las <g data-gr-id="25">Vegas</g> but their weight divisions are not a part of Olympic Games.
Following Freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestlers have qualified for the World Championships:
Men's Freestyle:
57kg: Amit Kumar (DEL) b Sandeep Tomar (SSCB) 3-2, 61kg: Sonu (HAR, SSCB) b Pardeep 3-2, 65kg: Yogeshwar Dutt (HAR) b Amit Dhankar (HAR) 6-3, 70kg: Arun (SSCB) vs Manoj (UP), Arun got walkover, 74kg: Narsingh Yadav (MAH) b Parveen Rana (RSPB) 6-5, 86kg: Naresh Kumar (RSPB) b Gopal Yadav (RSPB) 7-3, 97kg: Mausam Khatri (HAR) b Satywart Kadian (HAR) 6-0, 125kg: Sumit (RSPB) b Krishan (HAR) 2-0.
<g data-gr-id="24">Greeco</g>-Roman:
59kg: Ravinder Singh (HAR) b Gaurav Sharma (SSCB) 2-0, 66kg: Deepak (SSCB) b Anil Kumar (RSPB) 3-0, 71kg: M Rafique (SSCB) b K K Yadav (SSCB) 3-2, 75kg: Gurpreet Singh (PB) b Rajbir Chhikara (RSPB) 3-1, 80kg: Harpreet Singh (PB) b Ravinder Khatri (SSCB) 1-0, 85kg: Manoj Kumar (HAR) b Rambir (RSPB) 8-0, 98kg: Hardeep (RSPB) b Bhim (SSCB) 3-0, 130kg: Naveen (SSCB) b Sonu (HAR) 8-0.Â
I was under pressure to win, says Yogeshwar DUTT
Star grappler Yogeshwar Dutt on Tuesday  heaved a sigh of relief after clinching a spot for the World Championships by beating Amit Kumar Dhankhar, who had gone to court last year against the Olympic medallist alleging favouritism.
Dhankhar had sought court's direction on the method of picking wrestlers for the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games. He had asked the court to issue directions for holding trials in the 65kg freestyle category fairly and to recommend the name of the best wrestler in that division to represent India in the Games. Yogeshwar on Tuesday  defeated Dhankhar 6-3 in the final of 65kg selection trails, to make it to the September 7-12 World Championships in Las Vegas, which will also be the first qualification tournament for next year's Rio Olympics.Â
"Yes, there was slight pressure on me to beat him. Although I was pretty confident of defeating him but in case, I was unlucky on <g data-gr-id="106">Tuesday ,</g> people would have got a chance to point fingers at me," Yogeshwar told reporters. "There would also have been <g data-gr-id="104">criticism</g> against the WFI, who had chosen the team last time for the Commonwealth and Asian Games. People would have said that the Federation's chosen team was not right. So on Tuesday  I proved that the team picked last year was the most deserving," he said. At the last edition of the Olympics in London, Yogeshwar won a bronze in 60kg category before he was forced to climb up to 65kg after the FILA, the governing body for international wrestling, re-jigged Olympic weight categories.Â
Next Story
