The KD Jadhav Wrestling Hall in New Delhi will be packed to capacity on Saturday as Bajrang Punia will start his campaign in the Asian Wrestling Championships.
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India’s biggest hope for an Olympic medal in Tokyo, Bajrang will open his title Asian Championships defence against Tajikistan’s Dzhamshed Sharifov. The 65kg qualification round is scheduled for 11:30 am in the morning.
Bajrang’s path to the finals is not a rocky one but he will have to guard against Daulat Niyazbekov of Kazakhstan. It there are no major upsets, the two are expected to meet in the final. If that happens the Indian ace has a score to settle. The duo had last met at the 2019 World Championships in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan, and Niyazbekov was at home then. Bajrang was disappointed in the World Championships semi-finals in spite of matching the Kazakh 9-9 on scoreline, with the controversial decision going in the home team boy’s favour.
Now Bajrang is at home and determined to establish who is the better wrestler in the 65kg category.
Ravi Dahiya, Deepak Punia and Jitender are other strong Indian contenders who will be taking to mat on Day 1 of men’s freestyle competition.
Ravi Dahiya has been training hard in Russia with Coach and former Olympic medallist Murad Gaidarov. He is fresh from the Rome Ranking Series 61kg title. He will be competing in the 57 kg now. Besides acclimatisation to the nuances of a lighter weight group, Dahiya will have to deal with the might of Yuki Takahashi of Japan, who had denied the Indian wrestler a bronze in the 2019 Xi’an Asian Championships, in the quarterfinals.
Interestingly, the man Dahiya beat for the Rome Ranking Series 61kg gold, Nurislam Sanayev of Kazakhstan too is contesting in the 57kg category in New Delhi. There is a likelihood of Dahiya and Sanayev meeting in the semi-final round on Saturday.
Deepak Punia could not play the finals of the 2019 World Championships due to injury and suffered an ignominious defeat in the Rome Ranking series first round. The Indian, who will open his campaign against 2019 Asian Championships bronze medallist Gankhuyag Ganbaatar of Mongolia in the quarterfinals of the 86kg category bouts, will be expected to reach the top of the podium.
Jitender will be eyeing a lot more than a medal. He has got a right to represent India as the nation’s most successful Olympian wrestler Sushil Kumar had opted out of the national team selection trials. A medal here will seal Jitender’s place in Indian squad for the Asian Olympic Qualifying Championships next month. Any failure will bring Sushil back in contention, who is still aiming for his last shot for yet another Olympics glory.
The 2017 Commonwealth Championships gold medallist, Jitender is drawn to meet Thailand’s Parinya Chamnanjan in the 74kg qualification round. Up next lie for him some tough challenge from Iran’s Mostafa Hosseinkhaini, 2016 Asian Championships gold medallist.
Gaurav Baliyan (79kg), Satywart Kadian (97kg), Rahul Aware (61kg), Naveen (70kg), Sombir (92kg) and Satender (125kg) are the other home team hopes for the men’s freestyle glory.
The six-day championships, which commenced on the 18th February, will conclude Sunday.
CLICK HERE: LIVE Streaming of Asian Wrestling Championships 2020
Asian Wrestling Champions 2020 Full Schedule, India squad, Where to watch live: All You Need to Know
