Wrestlers reach late, denied participation in Olympic qualifiers

New Delhi: India’s chances of securing more quota places in wrestling for the Paris Games on Friday suffered a major jolt on Friday.
Leading wrestlers Deepak Punia and Sujeet Kalakal were forced to miss the Asian Olympic qualifying event after reporting late for their mandatory weigh-ins at the competition venue in Bishkek following flight delays in Dubai due to unprecedented rains that lashed major parts of the gulf nation for over two days beginning Tuesday.
While Tokyo Olympian and Birmingham CWG gold medallist Punia was scheduled to compete in the men’s freestyle 86kg division, promising talent Kalakal was to spearhead the country’s challenge in the men’s 65kg class. Unfortunately, both have to return to India without competing.
The two were left stranded at the Dubai airport terminal with no proper food since their arrival from Dagestan in Russia on Tuesday. The two wrestlers were training in Dagestan for the Olympic qualifiers and had tickets to fly from Makhachkala to Bishkek via Dubai for the Asian meet – the second-last qualifying tournament for the Paris Games. They were accompanied by their Russian coach Kamal Malikov and physio Shubham Gupta.
They were booked on a connecting flight from Dubai to Bishkek by the Indian authorities on Thursday evening. The flight was supposed to reach Bishkek at 5:30 am local time and the two wrestlers then had to report for their weigh-ins at 8 am at the venue. Their respective bouts were scheduled later in the day.
However, their flight to Kyrgyz capital got delayed owing to bad weather in Dubai and the wrestlers missed their weigh-ins. Malikov, along with other Indian coaches who are in Bishkek for the continental event, requested the organisers to allow the duo to compete in the qualifiers, but their plea was turned down. This has resulted in the country missing out on two possible quota places from the Asian meet.
World Qualifiers, scheduled in Turkey in May, will be the last chance for wrestlers to qualify for the Paris Games.