A strong field of freestyle wrestlers will begin India’s campaign at the Under-23 World Championships in Budapest on Monday. Leading the field will be former junior Asian champion Sharvan Tomar in the 65 kg category.
While Tomar will be back after a long injury layoff, others like Naveen in 57 kg, Veerdev Gulia in 79 kg and Gaurav Baliyan in 74 kg will also look to make a mark.
Gulia is a former junior World Championships bronze medallist while Baliyan is a cadet World Championships silver medallist.
On Monday, five Indian wrestlers – Naveen (57 kg), Naveen (70 kg), Tomar (65 kg), Gulia (79 kg) and Akash Antil (97 kg) will be in action.
The challenge in the Greco-Roman category will be led by two-time junior World Championships medallist Sajan Bhanwal, representing in the 77 kg category.
Last year, India managed to win only one medal – a silver in the 57 kg category by Ravi Dahiya.
Sajan Bhanwal, who has three medals from the World Junior Championships in 77kg and would be looking to grab his first medal from the U-23 Worlds.
Based on the current form of these wrestlers, the Wrestling Federation of India is expecting a better performance at the World Championships after the men’s and the women’s team underwent 15 days of rigorous training at Sonipat and Lucknow respectively.
The women will look to win a medal after India drew a blank at last year’s World Championships.
The field is led by some of the most talented girls in the country including Pinki, Nisha Dahiya, Naina Kanwal and Reshma Mane.
The women’s wrestling will be held after freestyle while the Greco-Roman is competition scheduled on the final three days.
The first edition of the tournament was played in 2017 in Poland where Bajrang Punia led India to three silver medals.
In the second edition, Dahiya was the long medallist before he proving his mettle at the 2019 senior World Championships by claiming the bronze and confirming the 57 kg freestyle category berth at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
