Hardeep sprung a surprise by booking an Olympic quota place for India in Greco-Roman wrestling, which is not the country's forte, after making the 98kg category final on the last day of the Asian Olympic Qualification championship, in Astana, on Sunday.
Sunil Kumar proved too good for Azat Salidinov of Kyrgyzstan, winning 5-0, in the 87 kg final to win India's first Greco-Roman gold medal in the Asian Wrestling Championships in 27 years.
Russian wrestler Dmitry Baboryko was banned for two years after taking a breast cancer drug that counters the effects of using steroids.
The medal count was nowhere close to satisfactory at the senior level but junior performances held out hope for a brighter future as Indian wrestling searched for new stars in a challenging 2025.
World Championships medallists Deepak Punia and Antim Panghal were among 30 Indian wrestlers selected for the Senior Asian Championships to be held in Amman, Jordan from March 25-30.
Ashu beat Syria's Abdulkarim Mohammad Al-Hasan 8-1 while Kundu defeated Nao Kusaka of Japan 8-0 inside 90 seconds in a lop-sided 72kg bronze medal bout.
Indian wrestler Sunil Kumar won the bronze medal in the 87kg Greco Roman bout of the Asian Championship hin Amman, Jordan on Tuesday.
Kajal wins India's second gold in women's competition at U-20 World Championships
An Olympic medal, whatever its hue, could do wonders to Greco-Roman, just like Sushil Kumar's bronze at the 2008 Beijing Games did for freestyle wrestling in India.
The 21-year-old Dalvi placed third in the Greco Roman 55 kg category.
The Greco Roman style, a poor cousin of free style wrestling in India, had a lot cheer with historic three-medal performance at the U-23 World Championships through Sajan Bhanwala, Nitesh and Vikas.
Wrestlers Antim, Aman seeded at Paris Olympics
Saarika was dominant in the 53kg weight class. She outclassed Sevval Cayir by technical superiority (12-2) and did not lose a single point in her quarterfinal against China's Tianyu Sun, winning 8-0.
After a disappointing 2024 season, the senior Asian Championships will provide an opportunity for Indian wrestlers like Antim Panghal and Deepak Punia to make a fresh start.
Grapplers Rajender Kumar and Sunil Kumar gave India more reasons to cheer by clinching a gold and bronze respectively in Greco-Roman style wrestling in the Commonwealth Games on Wednesday.
The trials were initially planned for February 27-29 but got postponed
Grappler Sandeep Tulsi Yadav created history by winning India's first-ever medal in the Greco-Roman category of the Senior World Wrestling Championships after beating Serbia's Aleksandar Maksimovic in the 66kg division in Budapest on Sunday.
Ronak Dahiya bagged the bronze medal in the 110kg Greco-Roman category
Manisha Bhanwala clinched India's first gold medal at the Asian Championships since 2021 edition with a close 8-7 win over Korea's Ok J Kim.
The trials will select top wrestlers to represent India at the Asian Championship in Amman, Jordan from March 25-30.
India's Greco-Roman grapplers Ravinder Singh, Harpreet Singh and Hardeep crashed out in the penultimate day of the World Wrestling Championships in Budapest on Saturday.
On the penultimate day of the competition, India finished with just two silver in the Greco-Roman wrestling event even as Prem missed out on a bronze medal finish.
Chirag Chikkara created history as he became only the third Indian to be crowned Under-23 World champion.
Ending India's three-decade medal drought in the Asian Games Greco-Roman Wrestling, Ravinder Singh and Sunil Rana bagged bronze medals in the 60kg and 66kg categories respectively on the opening day of competitions in Guangzhou on Sunday.
Dharmender Dalal cut a sorry figure as he lost his bronze medal play-off match in the men's 120kg Greco-Roman wrestling competitions to round off another disappointing day for Indian grapplers in the Asian Games in Guangzhou on Tuesday.
Rulon Gardner defeated the seemingly invincible Russian Alexander Karelin to win the 130kg gold medal at the Sydney Games in 2000.
The women's national wrestling camp will be held at Sports Authority of India's Patiala centre in future following reservations from multiple female grapplers.
The four-day selection trials began on Wednesday at NIS Patiala and SAI Regional Centre in Sonepat under the chairmanship of ad hoc panel member Bhupinder Singh Bajwa.
Cuban wrestling great Mijain Lopez became the first Olympian to win five golds in the same individual event on Tuesday.
The ad-hoc committee member added that the wrestlers' demand to hold the Worlds trials on or after August 20, as they need time to recover from the Asian Games trials, was "not feasible".
The Wrestling Federation of India conveyed to the world governing body UWW that the sports ministry is interfering with its autonomy.
The suspended WFI, despite being warned of legal action by the Sports Ministry for organising the 'nationals', went ahead with the tournament in Pune from January 29-31.
Yogeshwar questions 'unfair' trial exemption given to 6 wrestlers by IOA ad-hoc panel
A record contingent of 121 athletes, including 54 women, will represent India at the Rio Olympics.
Celebrated Indian grappler Yogeshwar Dutt neither praised nor criticised the new selection policy of the IOA-constituted ad-hoc panel for wrestling, which states that Olympic quota winners will have to compete against a challenger to book a ticket to the Paris Games.
Hundreds of junior wrestlers assembled at Jantar Mantar for a symbolic three-hour protest against Bajrang Punia, Sakshi Malik and Vinesh Phogat.
Antim Panghal once again confirmed her emergence as one of the top wrestlers in the country by winning the World Championships trials in Patiala on Friday.
Aman, who is Asian Games bronze medallist and Asian Championships title winner, is confident that he will be in reckoning for a medal at the Games.
The IOA ad-hoc committee on Wednesday decided to hold much-awaited Asian Games wrestling trials on July 22-23.
National coaches tell IOA ad-hoc panel trial exemption decision has irked wrestling community
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