Grapplers Vinesh, Anshu seal Paris Olympics quota
Vinesh, one of the main faces of the wrestlers’ protest last year, defeated Kazakhstan’s Laura Ganikyzy in the 50kg semifinal to inch closer to competing at her third straight Olympics.
Tokyo Olympic silver medallist Ravi Kumar Dahiya, who missed the entire 2023 international season due to injuries, marked his return with a bronze medal at the Grand Prix De France Henri Deglane wrestling tournament in Nice, France .
The Indian wrestler won his 61kg freestyle bronze medal bout 10-4 against Kairat Amirtayev of Kazakhstan. Dahiya trailed 2-4 in the first minute but used his experience to clinch the contest convincingly.
Dahiya overcame Julien Zinser of Germany in the round of 16 via technical superiority (13-2) followed by a 12-6 win over Zangar Kabylbekov of Kazakhstan in the quarter-final. However, the Indian suffered a 6-3 defeat against Arman Eloyan of France in the semi-final and was pulled into the bronze medal bout.
Dahiya last competed on the international stage at the 2022 World Wrestling Championships. He was ruled out of the Asian Championships in April 2023 after he sustained Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) and Medial Collateral Ligament (MCL) injuries on his right knee in February during practice.
He aggravated the injury during the national trials in July for the Asian Games and was forced out of action for the rest of the year. Subsequently, he did not compete at the World Wrestling Championships in Belgrade, a qualifying event for the Paris 2024 Olympics.
For the upcoming events, Dahiya is expected to come down from 61kg to 57kg weight category. He is likely to compete at the Asian Olympic Games Qualifier in Kyrgyzstan in April and the World Olympic Qualifiers in Turkey in May.
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