CHENNAI: Barring Ravi Dahiya, three of the four Indian wrestlers who have qualified for Tokyo Olympics have almost assured themselves a top-four seeding. As per United World Wrestling’s (UWW) latest rankings, Bajrang Punia (65kg) and Deepak Punia (86kg) are second in their categories. Vinesh Phogat (53kg) is third. Ravi is ranked fourth in his category at the moment, but his current position is precarious: a six-point lead over Sanayev Nurislam.
He could go out of the top-four bracket if he fails to finish on podium and the Kazakh does so in the last Ranking Series. At the moment, the tournament is supposed to happen in Warsaw in the first week of June. On the other hand, Bajrang, Deepak and Vinesh have amassed a lead of at least 15 points over their fifth-placed competitors, reducing the chance of being overtaken in the event. The top-four in each category gets a seeding for Olympics, which helps them avoid facing each other in the initial rounds. That in turn increases their chances of making it to the medal round.
The points are allocated on the basis of their performances in the World Championships, continental championships and Ranking Series events. Bajrang, Vinesh and Ravi won bronze each at Worlds, while Deepak finished with silver. At February’s Asian Championships (in New Delhi), Ravi clinched gold and Bajrang silver. Deepak and Vinesh managed bronze. Earlier, the trio won a gold each at the Ranking Series in Rome in January. Bajrang and Vinesh competed in their usual categories, but Ravi took part in the non-Olympic 61kg division, which didn’t help him accumulate points in 57kg.
Deepak finished without a medal. “The Ranking Series events, continental championships and Worlds will help them get important rankings points,” said Andrew Cook, foreign coach for women wrestlers. “This will help UWW separate the top-ranked grapplers from each other at Olympics. As far as women wrestlers are concerned, only Vinesh is seeded at the moment. That will help her.” Other Indian women wrestlers in the top-10 are Nirmala Devi (50kg), Anshu Malik (57kg) and Divya Kakran (68kg). Nirmala and Anshu are seventh and eighth. Divya is ranked sixth. But all the three grapplers don’t have an outside chance of making it to the top-four.
