CHENNAI: Double Olympian Anshu Malik lost the 57kg wrestling selection trial bout held at the IG Stadium, New Delhi on Tuesday. The trials were held to pick the national team for the Ulaanbaatar Open Ranking Series scheduled in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia from May 29 to June 1.
Anshu, who represented the country in Tokyo and Paris in 57kg, initially didn't meet the criteria set by the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) for the trials but was later given a go ahead for the competition. Anshu had won a silver medal each in the 2021 World Championships and 2022 Commonwealth Games,
"She was trailing 0-7 with a few seconds remaining in the bout when she opted out due to an injury. It was her first bout in the trials and the winner, Neha Sangwan, went on to finish first in the weight category," a WFI source, who watched the bout from the sidelines, told this daily.
Anshu, 23, who is part of TOPS core group, hadn't taken part in the last selection trials held in March to pick the team for the Asian Championships. According to the WFI criteria, only those who competed in the previous trials were eligible for the latest competition. Besides, the federation had decided to conduct trials only in weight categories wherein Indian wrestlers had returned empty handed from the continental tournament.
Sunil Kumar (87kg) and Nitesh (97kg) had won a bronze each in the Greco-Roman style while Udit (61kg silver), Deepak Punia (92kg silver) and Dinesh (125kg bronze) were the medallists in the freestyle in the Asian meet. The trials for men wrestlers were held in Lucknow on Monday. A trial was held in Sunil's weight category too as he is said to be injured and cannot compete in the Ranking Series.
In the women's wrestling, Manisha clinched 62kg gold while Reetika returned with 76kg silver in the Asian event held in Amman, Jordan from March 25 to 20. Antim Panghal (53kg), Muskan (59kg) and Mansi Lather (68kg) had bagged a bronze each. The WFI had also given permission to Radhika to appear in the 68kg trials as she had submitted her medical certificate requesting to skip the previous trials. Besides, Mansi, the medallis in the division, is injured and hence out of contention.
The winners of the trials along with Asian Championships medallists will represent the country in the third Ranking Series of the year in Mongolia.
