India had something to cheer about on the final day of the Asian Wrestling Olympic qualifier in Astana after wrestler Hardeep booked a Rio 2016 quota in the Greco-Roman category following his qualification into the final of the 98kg category on Sunday.
Hardeep stunned his way into the final of the event, defeating Turkmenistan’s Arslan Saparmammedov 11-0 in the quarterfinal before repeating the demolition act in the semis where he beat Margulan Assembekov of Kazakhstan 11-2 to book his spot in the final.
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Hardeep becomes the first Indian wrestler since Mausam Khatri to book a quota in the Greco-Roman category. Khatri had sealed the quota at the Athens Olympics in 2004. Hardeep,however, becomes the first Indian to seal a quota in the heavyweight category.
This is India’s second quota at the event after Yogeshwar Dutt made the cut for Rio 2016 on Saturday in the 65kg Freestyle category following his qualification into the final and then later in the day won the Gold in the summit clash.
Hardeep joins Dutt and Narsingh Yadav as the third Indian grappler to seal a quota.
