National wrestling champion Sandeep Singh Mann books 74kg slot for next month's Asian Olympic Qualifiers

New Delhi: National champion Sandeep Singh Mann booked the 74kg slot in the Indian wrestling team for the upcoming Asian Olympic Qualifiers, edging out comeback-man Narsingh Pancham Yadav and seasoned Amit Dhankar in the trials, held on Tuesday. The 74kg being the most competitive category, bouts were close despite the absence of two-time Olympic medallist Sushil Kumar, who opted to skip trials, saying he was not prepared. Sandeep beat Dhankar 2-1 in the final bout, earning the right to be on the flight to Almaty, Kazakhstan where the Olympic Qualifiers will be held from 9-11 April. Sandeep had got the better of Narsingh Yadav 4-3 in the semi-finals. Amit had made the final after winning his semi-final against Jitender Kinha on criteria. He scored the last point in the 3-3 tie to emerge the winner. Satyawart Kadiyan and Sumit Malik expectedly won the trials in the 97kg and 125kg respectively. Both of them had fared poorly in the recent Ranking Series event in Rome. Bajrang Punia (65kg), Ravi Dahiya (57kg) and Deepak Punia (86kg) had qualified for the Tokyo Games after wining medals at the 2019 World Championships, held in Nur Sultan. In the Greco-Roman style, Gyanender (60kg), Ashu (67kg), Gurpreet Singh (77kg), Sunil Kumar (87kg), Ravi (97kg) and Naveen (130kg) won the trials in their respective categories.