Bajrang Punia and Ravi Dahiya, both Tokyo Games medalists, were on Sunday eliminated from the race for the Paris Olympics qualification after losing their respective rounds in the selection trials for the upcoming international tournaments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Punia suffered a crushing 1-9 defeat in the men’s freestyle 65kg semifinal against Rohit Kumar. Punia was a prominent face of protest against BJP MP and former WFI President Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, accused of sexually harassing women wrestlers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This was after he barely managed to win against Ravinder 3-3 on criteria. Punia would have been eliminated in the opening bout itself if Ravinder had not conceded a caution point in the bout.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soon after being eliminated, Punia left the Sports Authority of India (SAI) Centre here in a huff. Punia did not even stay back for the third-fourth-place bout. The National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) officials tried to collect samples for a dope test from Punia but he had already left the place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to reports, Punia had trained in Russia to prepare for the trials, which are being organised by the IOA ad-hoc panel. Punia, though, won a case in the Delhi High Court after contending that suspended WFI had no authority to conduct trials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 57kg men category, being organised in Nordic format, was always a tough category since both Tokyo Games silver medallist Ravi Dahiya and star-in-making Aman Sehrawat were in contention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dahiya, who was making a comeback from an injury, lost the high-scoring opening bout 13-14 to Aman. Both of them train at Chhatarsal Stadium.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Aman has established himself as a prominent athlete by winning medals in almost all tournaments in 2023, during which Dahiya was not competing. Aman, who won bronze at the Asian Games, managed to fend off Dahiya’s last-minute push to secure a close victory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Unfortunately, Dahiya was ousted after losing the next bout to Udit, the U20 Asian champion. The winners of the trials will be granted the opportunity to participate in the Asian and World Olympic Qualifiers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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