No stopping Antim Panghal, tops World Championships trials

Patiala, August 25

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Antim Panghal once again confirmed her emergence as one of the top wrestlers in the country by winning the World Championships trials here today.

Diyva Kakran and Sarita Mor bounced back from the disappointment of losing the Asian Games trials to book their spots for the global meet.

Antim, who recently made history by becoming the first Indian woman wrestler to win back-to-back U20 world titles, had also won the Asian Games trials in the 53kg category last month. But she was kept as standby after the Indian Olympic Association-constituted ad hoc committee exempted Vinesh Phogat from trials and sent her name directly to the Sports Ministry for clearance.

But Vinesh, the 2018 Asian Games gold medallist, suffered a knee injury and Antim was today included by the ministry in the list of athletes bound for the Asian Games.

Antim today emerged victorious in a field of four wrestlers that included Manju, Pooja Jat and Rajni to secure a berth for the World Championships in Belgrade from September 16.

Sarita, a World Championships bronze medal winner in 57kg, had suffered a shock defeat at the Asian Games trials to U23 World Championships bronze medallist Mansi Ahlawat.

Diyva, who had moved up from 68kg to 76kg during last month’s Asian Games trials but could not qualify for the continental event, made up for the loss by topping the category.

Antim Kundu, silver medallist at the recent U20 World Championships, also booked her place in the 65kg category, topping the group that had Sarika, Monika and Ravita.

The trials for selecting the freestyle team will be held tomorrow. — PTI

IOA seeks urgent meeting with UWW

New Delhi: The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) today requested the United World Wrestling (UWW) to “keep in abeyance” the suspension of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI), insisting that it was making efforts to resume the election process. The letter to UWW was signed by IOA president PT Usha, secretary general Kalyan Chaubey and ad hoc panel chief Bhupender Singh Bajwa. The IOA gave the details how it made efforts to hold the elections on time but multiple court cases arising out of disputes in several state bodies had led to the delay. “All our efforts are being made to vacate the stay and resume the election process. The IOA requests that provisional suspension be held in abeyance,” the letter read.