CHENNAI: As expected, all the top men freestyle wrestlers made it to the India squad for the 2026 Asian Games, winning trials in their respective weight categories on Sunday. The trials were held at SAI centre in Lucknow and newly-appointed men's freestyle coach Shako Bentinidis also reached the venue to oversee the competition.
Aman Sehrawat, the 2024 Paris Olympics bronze medallist, defeated Rahul (11-1) by technical superiority in the 57kg weight category final. Similarly, world No 1 Sujeet Kalkal continued his unbeaten streak to win the trials in the 65kg. He defeated Vishal Kaliraman 2-0 in a close final.
The story of the day, however, was the return of Deepak Punia, who not only changed his weight category to 97kg but also defeated Jonty Kumar 8-0 in the final to book a place in the national team. Punia used to compete in the 86kg and won the 2019 World Championships silver medal apart from representing the country at the Tokyo Olympics in the same division. Of late, he participated in the 92kg and won the Senior Open Ranking Tournament in the same category. He, however, moved to 97kg for the trials as 92kg is a non-Olympic weight category. Punia won a silver medal in the 86kg in the previous Asiad and will hope to better his performance this time in Japan.
In the freestyle, the 74kg category produced the day's biggest upset when favourite Abhimanyu was knocked out in the quarterfinals by Yash Tushir. However, it was Sagar Jaglan who eventually emerged victorious, defeating Jaideep 8-6 in a closely-contested final. In 86kg, Mukul Dahiya beat Amit 4-2 in the title bout, while Rajat Rahul secured the heavyweight 125kg berth with a 10-6 win over Dinesh, who was considered favourite.
Apart from these freestyle wrestlers, the Sunil Kumar, 2022 Asian Games bronze medallist, also made it to the team in the 86kg.
Earlier, the selection trials for the women wrestlers were held at the IG Stadium in New Delhi on Saturday.
India squad
Freestyle: Aman Sehrawat (57kg), Sujeet Kalkal (65kg), Sagar Jaglan (74kg), Mukul (86kg), Deepak Punia (97kg), Rajat Rahul (125kg).
Greco-Roman: Sumit (60kg), Deepak (67kg), Aman (77kg), Sunil (87kg), Nitesh Kumar (97kg), Deepanshu (130kg).
