New Delhi, 17 May (PTI): Fifteen wrestlers were on Wednesday picked to represent India in the upcoming U-17 and U-23 Asian Championships in Kyrgyzstan on the first day of the selection trials held in Patiala and Sonepat under the aegis of IOA-constituted ad hoc panel to run the national federation.
Three wrestlers each were named in the U-17 freestyle, greco-roman and women’s categories while two each were picked in the U-23 freestyle, greco-roman and women’s sections.
The four-day selection trials began on Wednesday at NIS Patiala and SAI Regional Centre in Sonepat under the chairmanship of ad hoc panel member Bhupinder Singh Bajwa. SAI Sonepat Executive Director Lalita Sharma, Competition Director Gian Singh, Competition Manager Rajeev Tomar and chief coach Jagmander Singh were among those who were present at the trials.
On Wednesday, a total of 170 wrestlers participated in the freestyle trials in Sonepat, while 94 in greco-roman and 89 in women’s wrestling took part at NIS, Patiala. The selection of the remaining weight categories will be done in the remaining three days at the two centres.
The selection trials had witnessed tremendous response with the IOA-constituted ad hoc committee receiving record 1704 entries.
”The ad-hoc Committee received 1704 nos. record entries in U23 FS (free style): 393, GR (greco-roman): 220, WW (women wrestling): 151. In U17 FS: 490, GR: 207, WW: 243 for participation in the Selection Trials,” Bajwa, also the president of Wushu Association of India, had said in a statement The selection panel to pick free style wrestlers comprises Bajwa, chief coach Jagmander Singh and Ramesh Kumar Gulia.
The greco roman and women wrestling teams will be picked by a selection committee which comprises former shooter Suma Shirur, Mahasingh Rao, Alka Tomar and Neha Rathi.
The list of selected wrestlers on day 1: U-17 Freestyle: 48kg: Rupesh (Haryana) 60kg: Tushar (Haryana) 71kg: Narender (Haryana) U-17 Greco-Roman: 48kg: Siddhanath (Maharashtra) 60kg: Varun (Haryana) 71kg: Soham Raj (Maharashtra) U-17 Women’s Wrestling: 43kg: Parveen (Haryana) 53kg: Rajnita (Haryana) 61kg: Savita (Haryana) U-23 Freestyle: 97kg: Sahil (Punjab) 125kg: Akash Antil (Haryana) U-23 Greco-Roman: 82kg: Rohit Dahiya (Haryana) 130kg: Parvesh (Haryana) U-23 Women’s Wrestling: 59kg: Anjali (Haryana) 76kg: Harshita (Haryana).