Mumbai: Sumit Malik became the fourth Indian men’s freestyle wrestler to qualify for the Tokyo Games when he reached the 125kg summit clash at the World Olympic Qualifiers.
Sumit joined Ravi Dahiya (57kg), Bajrang Punia (65kg) and Deepak Punia (86kg) in India’s men’s freestyle squad for the Tokyo Olympics. It is the first time that 28-year-old Sumit, a 2018 Commonwealth Games gold medallist, has made the cut for the Olympics.
The finalists at this competition qualify for the Tokyo Games. Unlike his previous bouts, Sumit was aggressive from the beginning in the semi-finals, which he won 5-0 against Venezuela’s Jose Daniel Diaz Robertti. However, Amit Dhankar (74kg) and Satywart Kadiyan (97kg) failed to earn a quota after losing at different stages of the competition.
En route to the last-four stage, Sumit got the better of Kyrgyzstan’s Aiaal Lazarev (qualification bout), Alexandr Romanov of Moldova (pre-quarterfinals) and Tajikistan’s Rustam Iskandari (quarter-finals).
Indian rowers Arjun Lal Jat and Arvind Singh qualified for the Olympic Games in the men’s lightweight double sculls event after finishing second in the final race of the Asia/Oceania Continental Qualifying Regatta in Tokyo on Friday.
Another Indian, Jakar Khan finished fourth in the men’s singles sculls final that offers five Olympic quotas but missed out as a country gets only one qualifying spot from this regatta. The top-three qualify for the Olympics in the men’s lightweight double sculls event. Arjun Lal and Arvind will be the only Indian rowers at the Tokyo Games as the country will not participate in the other Olympic qualifiers due to the Covid-19 pandemic.