CHENNAI : Almost a year after getting eliminated in the first round of the 2018 Asian Games, two-time Olympic medallist Sushil Kumar may return to the mat to compete in an international tournament at Medved International wrestling tournament. The event scheduled in Minsk, Belarus will see participation from Indian men and women wrestlers in all weight categories except two (men’s 70 and 86 kg). Deepak Punia, who recently qualified for the World Championships in 86 kg during trials, is giving the Belarus event a miss as he wanted to compete in the Junior World Championships scheduled in the same period while Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) decided to let the 70 kg division go unrepresented in absence of a suitable choice.
As the trial in 74 kg was postponed till second week of August, the WFI was unsure of who will be competing in the weight category, till India’s most celebrated wrestler expressed his desire to compete. “We were thinking of sending Pradeep Tomar as other 74 kg wrestlers were unavailable. Parveen Rana is injured and Amit Kumar Dhankar wants to prepare for selection trials in the country. Our aim was to give Tomar some international exposure but now Sushil has conveyed his desire to compete, we think it’s better if the latter goes to Belarus and represents the country,” Vinod Tomar, WFI assistant secretary told this newspaper.
The worlds trials for male wrestlers in New Delhi on July 26 were supposed to be Sushil’s first outing since a long break but the national federation rescheduled the 74 kg bout following a request from injured Rana. Sushil had won his third consecutive gold in the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast before suffering a shock defeat in the Asian Games. In March this year, he withdrew from the final selection trials for the April 23-28 Asian Championships in China. Despite not featuring in any event, Sushil though headed to Russia for training and got back to the country in time to take part in selection trials.
Vinesh to compete in Poland
Even as lack of time to procure visas forced Indian wrestlers to skip Poland Open scheduled in Warsaw from August 2 to 4, star grappler Vinesh Phogat is set to compete in the tournament. “She has Schengen visa and will compete in Poland under TOPS,” said WFI assistant secretary. “I will be leaving for Poland on Monday for participating in competition and training camps. I will compete in Poland Open and then join the national team in Belarus for Medved International,” Vinesh confirmed to this daily. She booked the Worlds berth in 53kg earlier on Sunday during the selection trials at SAI Centre, Lucknow.