Deepak Punia, Antim Panghal among 30 Indian wrestlers named for Asian Championships

New Delhi: World Championships medallists Deepak Punia and Antim Panghal were among 30 Indian wrestlers named on Saturday for the Senior Asian Championships to be held in Amman, Jordan from March 25-30.

Ten wrestlers each were picked in the men's freestyle and Greco-Roman, as well as women's categories during the selection trials conducted by the Wrestling Federation of India at the IG Sports Complex here.

Punia, who won a silver in 2019 World Championships and gold in 2022 Commonwealth Games, has, however, moved from 86kg to 92kg while Vishal Kaliraman also pushed himself up from 65kg to 70kg. Panghal (53kg) and Reetika (86kg) expectedly won their trials.

The selection trials were overseen by the selection committee of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI), including president Sanjay Kumar Singh, vice president Jai Prakash, treasurer SP Deshwal and Olympic medallist Yogeshwar Dutt.

The WFI said it extended invitation to top wrestlers from across the country to participate in the trials "ensuring a highly competitive and transparent selection process".

"However, a few notable wrestlers, including (Paris Olympics medallist) Aman Sehrawat, were unable to participate due to injuries," the WFI said.

The selected wrestlers

Men's Freestyle: Chirag (57kg), Udit (61kg), Sujit (65kg), Vishal Kaliraman (70kg), Jaideep (74kg), Chandermohan (79kg), Mukul Dahiya (86kg), Deepak Punia (92kg), Jointy Kumar (97kg) and Dinesh (125kg).

Men's Greco-Roman: Nitin (55kg), Sumit (60kg), Umesh (63kg), Neeraj (67kg), Kuldeep Malik (72kg), Sagar (77kg), Rahul (82kg), Sunil Kumar (87kg), Nitesh (97kg) and Prem (130kg).

Women's Wrestling: Ankush (50kg), Antim (53kg), Nishu (55kg), Neha Sharma (57kg), Muskan (59kg), Manisha (62kg), Monika (65kg), Mansi Lathar (68kg), Jyoti Berwal (72kg) and Reetika (76kg).