Bajrang Punia and Ravi Dahiya – both medalists from the Tokyo Games – were on Sunday knocked out of the qualification race for the Paris Olympics after losing their respective matches in the selection trials for the upcoming international tournaments.
Punia, who was a prominent face of the protest against former WFI president Briji Bhushan Sharan Singh, suffered a crushing 1-9 defeat in the men’s freestyle 65kg semi-final against Rohit Kumar.
This was after he won against Ravinder (3-3 in metric). Ravinder not scored a caution in this match, Punia would have been banned in the opening match itself.
Punia left the Sports Authority of India (SAI) in anger after being eliminated here. Officials of the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) tried to take a sample from Punia for a doping test, but he did not stay in the fight for third-fourth place.
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Punya trained in Russia to prepare for the exam conducted by the IOA special committee. However, Punia successfully argued in the Delhi High Court that the suspended Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) did not have jurisdiction over the case.
The Men’s 57kg, organized in the Nordic format, was always going to be a tough category as Tokyo Games silver medalist Ravi Dahiya and star-in-the-making Aman Sehrawat were in contention.
Dahiya, who is returning from injury, lost a high-scoring opening match 13-14 to Aman. Both train at the Chhatarsal Stadium. Dahiya lost their next match against Asian U20 champions Udit to be eliminated.
So far, India has won only one quota for the Paris Games through Antim Panghal (Women’s 53kg).
