CHENNAI: As expected, all the top freestyle wrestlers made it to India’s squad for the 2026 Asian Games, winning the events in their respective weight categories on Sunday. The trials were held at the SAI center in Lucknow and newly appointed men’s freestyle coach Shako Bentinidis also reached the venue to oversee the competition.
Paris 2024 Olympics bronze medalist Aman Sehrawat defeated Rahul (11-1) by TKO in the 57kg final. Similarly, World No. 1 Sujeet Kalkal continued his unbeaten streak to win the 65kg events. He beat Vishal Kaliraman 2-0 in a close final.
The story of the day, however, was the comeback of Deepak Punia, who not only changed his weight category to 97kg but also defeated Jonty Kumar 8-0 in the final to book a place in the national team. Punia used to compete in the 86kg category and won the 2019 World Championships silver medal, besides representing the country at the Tokyo Olympics in the same division. Recently, he participated in 92 kg and won the Senior Open Ranking Tournament in the same category. He, however, moved to 97kg for the trials as 92kg is a non-Olympic weight class. Punia won a silver medal in the 86kg category at the previous Asian Games and will be hoping to improve on his performance this time in Japan.
In freestyle, the 74kg category caused the biggest upset of the day when favorite Abhimanyu was knocked out in the quarterfinals by Yash Tushir. However, it was Sagar Jaglan who eventually emerged victorious, defeating Jaideep 8-6 in a tight final. In 86kg, Mukul Dahiya defeated Amit 4-2 in the title bout, while Rajat Rahul secured the heavyweight 125kg berth with a 10-6 win over Dinesh, who was considered the favourite.
In addition to these freestyle opportunities, Sunil Kumar, bronze winner of the 2022 Asian Games, also made it to the team in the 86 kg category.
Earlier, the selection trials for women wrestlers were held at the IG Stadium in New Delhi on Saturday.
Team India
Freestyle: Aman Sehravat (57kg), Sujeet Kalkal (65kg), Sagar Jaglan (74kg), Mukul (86kg), Deepak Punia (97kg), Rajat Rahul (125kg).
Greco-Roman: Sumit (60 kg), Deepak (67 kg), Aman (77 kg), Sunil (87 kg), Nitesh Kumar (97 kg), Deepanshu (130 kg).
