Jaideep, Sujeet bow out

Istanbul, May 12

Sujeet Kalkal and Jaideep Ahlawat resisted their respective rivals well at the world qualifiers today but could not add more quotas to India’s kitty for the Paris Olympics, where the country will have only one male wrestler presenting his challenge.

In his crucial 65kg bronze medal contest, Sujeet matched USA’s Zain Allen Retherford in terms of skills but conceded a takedown on a counterattack to lose 2-2 on criteria.

It was Sujeet who got on board first with a tremendous counterattack move. He was about to concede points on takedown but surprised the American with his quick counter and led the bout for considerable period.

Looking for another takedown, he went after Retherford but it was now the turn of the American to pull off a counter move as he got the takedown. Retherford maintained the scoreline to walk out a winner.

Sujeet’s defeat also means that Bajrang Punia’s hopes to make it to Paris have been dashed.

Jaideep began with a technically superior win in his 74kg repechage round clash against Turkmenistan’s Arslan Amanmyradov. However, he could not do much against home favourite Soner Demirtas, losing the bronze match 1-2.

India will have six wrestlers in its contingent in Paris with five quotas coming through women. Vinesh Phogat (50kg), Antim Panghal (53kg), Anshu Malik (57kg), Nisha Dahiya (68kg) and Reetika Hooda (76kg) qualified for Paris Games.