Two Indian wrestlers stranded at Dubai airport on way to Bishkek for Olympic qualifier

NEW DELHI: Wrestlers Deepak Punia and Sujeet Kalakal faced a setback in their quest to qualify for the Paris Olympics as both, en route to Kyrgyzstan, found themselves stranded at the Dubai international airport.

Both have been stuck in Dubai as unprecedented rainfall has hit the gulf nation. The weather conditions disrupted the travel plans, leaving the two wrestlers unable to proceed with their journey.

Deepak (86kg), who had come close to winning a medal at the Tokyo Games, and Sujeet (65kg), were on their way to Bishkek to participate in the Asia Olympic qualfiers, the second-last qualifying event for Paris Olympics, beginning on Friday.

However, the duo was left stranded at the Dubai airport after the heaviest recorded rainfall ever to hit the nation left major highways and roads flooded and one of the world's busiest airports in a disarray.

The duo, accompanied by Russian coach Kamal Malikov and physio Shubham Gupta, has been forced to sleep on the floor and has no access to proper food due to the rain-induced crisis.

Deepak and Sujeet have their weigh-in at 8am on Friday while the bouts are scheduled later in the day.

"They are stuck at the Dubai airport since April 16 and it seems the chance of qualifying for Paris Olympics is slipping out of their hands as they are scheduled to compete tomorrow. They are not getting any flights to Bishkek. I am worried about them," Dayanand Kalakal, Sujeet's father, told PTI.

Deepak and Sujeet were training in Dagestan, Russia from April 2 to 15 and decided to fly from Makachkala to Bishkek via Dubai.

The last chance to qualify for Paris will be World qualifiers in Turkey in May.

(With inputs from PTI)

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