Veteran Indian wrestler Muasam Khatri misses Olympic berth by a whisker

Istanbul: Veteran Indian wrestler Mausam Khatri lost out on an Olympic berth by a whisker while his other team-mates in men’s freestyle also failed to make the cut at the final qualifying event of the Rio Games in Istanbul on Sunday. No Indian managed to bag a quota place on the final day of competitions on Sunday, though two women grapplers – Vinesh Phogat (48kg) and Sakshi Malik (58kg) – had booked quota places for the country on Saturday. [caption id=“attachment_2771086” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Indian wrestler Mausam Khatri. AFP[/caption] The second World Olympic Qualifying tournament here is the last qualification event for the Rio Games and only the top two finishers in each weight category are ensured of an Olympic quota place. India will now be represented by six wrestlers across three formats at the Rio Olympics. Khatri was just one win away from making the final of 97kg freestyle division and ensuring a place at the Olympics, but he lost his semifinal bout to Khuderbulga Dorjkhand of Mongolia 6-8 to pull the curtains down on his Rio dreams. The veteran wrestler will now fight for the bronze medal. Earlier, Khatri had put up a dominating show, thrashing Nikolaos Papaoikonomou 10-0 in his pre-quarterfinals bout before getting the better of Germany’s Erik Sven Thiele 8-4 in the quarterfinal to brighten his chances of qualification for Rio Games. In 125kg category, Hitender lost to Oleksandr Khotsianivskyi 2-7 in the qualification bout, but the Indian managed to reach the repechage round as his Ukrainian rival made it to the final. Another Indian in the fray today, Gopal Yadav though bowed out in the qualification round of 86kg after suffering a 4-5 defeat at the hands of Latvia’s Armands Zvirbulis.