Aman and Antim among medal contenders at World wrestling championships

Indian wrestlers to compete under UWW flag in World championships; two youngsters Aman Sehrawat and Antim Panghal among medal contenders; Sarita Mor, Anuj Kumar also in fray; 90 Olympic quota places on offer. #Wrestling #WorldChampionships #Olympics #India

Following the provisional suspension of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI), owing to delayed elections preceded by wrestlers’ protest, Indian athletes will compete under the United World Wrestling flag for the first time in the World championships, a Paris Olympics qualifying event, starting in Belgrade on Saturday.

However, an Olympic quota place won by an Indian wrestler will be awarded to the country, according to official sources in the ad-hoc committee running the WFI.

Also read | United World Wrestling body suspends Wrestling Federation of India

In the current Indian squad, Asian champion Aman Sehrawat, who took the place of an injured Olympic silver medallist Ravi Dahiya in freestyle 57kg, and two-time World under-20 champion woman wrestler Antim Panghal (53kg), who replaced last edition’s bronze medallist Vinesh Phogat (who is recovering from a knee surgery), will be among the medal contenders.

It will be interesting to see how these two youngsters perform despite their heavy workload.

Aman has taken part in two trials in as many months and will try to give his best in the World championships and the Asian Games in consecutive months.

Antim has participated in the World under-20 championships apart from two trials and needs to work harder than ever for the two upcoming elite events.