CHENNAI: Nisha Dahiya on Friday became the fifth Indian woman wrestler to earn a quota for the 2024 Paris Olympics. The 25-year-old wrestler from Haryana entered the final of the 68kg weight category in the World Olympic Games Qualifier in Istanbul, Turkey thus securing the quota. She defeated Alexandra N Anghel of Romania 8-4 in the semifinal.
Nisha began her campaign with a 3-0 win over Alina Shauchuk (Individual Neutral Athletes) in the pre-quarterfinals. In the quarterfinal, she defeated Adela Hanzlickova of Czechia 7-4. Nisha finished fifth in the Asian Olympic Games Qualifier held in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, last month.
The 2021 Under-23 World Championships silver medallist missed the Tokyo Olympics berth by a whisker when she finished third in the Asian Qualifier in 2021. Only the finalists were given the quota. She then finished seventh in the World Qualifier to miss out on a chance to compete in the Tokyo Olympics.
Mansi, another Indian woman wrestler in the fray, however, lost her first bout in the pre-quarterfinals. She lost the bout to Veranika Ivanova (Individual Neutral Athletes) by fall as the contest got over in 25 seconds. Veranika then won the quarterfinal but lost the semifinal to Kriszta Tunde Incze of Romania. The loss ended Mansi’s hope of making it to the play-off through repechage round.
As per the criteria, two finalists apart from the winner of the play-offs between two bronze medallists earn the Paris quota in each weight category.
Earlier in the day, India’s lone hope in men’s Greco-Roman wrestling, Sunil Kumar (87kg), won a bout and lost another in the repechage round to bow out of contention. Sunil’s loss meant India would go unrepresented in the Greco-Roman category in the 2024 Olympics.
Meanwhile, six freestyle wrestlers from the country will be in action on Saturday. Aman Sehrawat has been given a bye in the first round and will begin his campaign in the pre-quarterfinals against one of the qualifiers from the previous round. Sujeet Kalkal will face Umidjon Jalolov of Uzbekistan in the 1/16 round. Like Aman, Jaideep’s opponent in the 1/16 round of the 74kg will be decided through the previous qualification round.
Tokyo Olympian Deepak Punia will take on Zushen Lin of China in the 86kg in the round of 1/16 while his namesake Deepak will face Magomedgadji Omardibirovich Nurov of North Macedonia in the qualification round. Sumit Malik (125kg) will be up against Aaron Anthony Johnson of Jamaica in the qualification round.
Before Nisha, four women wrestlers — Vinesh Phogat (50kg), Antim Panghal (53kg), Anshu Malik (57kg) and Reetika Hooda (76kg) — have secured an Olympic quota each. The World Qualifier is the last chance to secure Paris beth for Indian wrestlers.