Bajrang Punia, Deepak Punia seeded second for Tokyo Olympics, Ravi Dahiya ranks fourth

The United World Wrestling (UWW) on Monday announced the seedings for the Tokyo Olympics in different weight brackets of men’s freestyle.

Bajrang Punia has been seeded second in the 65 kg weight class with a point behind table topper Gadzhimura Rashidov. While Bajrang Punia has 59 points, his Russian counterpart finished at 60.

In 86 kg, Deepak Punia is seeded second with 54 points, behind Olympic champion Hassan Yazdani (Iran). The Indian wrestler could have entered the Tokyo Olympics as top seed if he had managed to win a medal at the Poland Ranking Series. However, he pulled out of the tournament due to an elbow injury.

Meanwhile, Ravi Kumar Dahiya will enter the Tokyo Olympics as the fourth seed in the 57 kg weight category.

Bajrang Punia skipped the Poland Open to train in Russia. Ravi Dahiya and Deepak Punia are slated to join him in Vladikavkaz for training later this month.

Russia is a good country to train for Tokyo Olympics, says Bajrang Punia

Bajrang Punia had chosen Russia as his training center for two reasons. The first reason is the fact that he will get a good sparring partner. The second reason is the relaxed quarantine period in Russia.

"In Poland, there was a 14 day quarantine which was too long for me. In Russia, you do not need quarantine if you have tested negative for Covid-19,” the three-time world medalist said during a virtual press conference in May.

He is training with his Georgian coach Shako Bentinidis. Bajrang Punia feels the Russia trip will be crucial ahead of the Tokyo Olympics.

किस्मत का तो पता नही पर मेहनत से सब मिलता हैं । 🙏🏽 pic.twitter.com/tKjdcvENBk

— Bajrang Punia 🇮🇳 (@BajrangPunia) January 10, 2021

"With better sparring partners in Russia, we are sure to improve further. It's time to focus on training with top wrestlers over competitions," Shako told Sportskeeda.

Tokyo Olympics Wrestling Schedule

The wrestling event will begin on August 1. It will be held in Makuhari Messe Hall which is a convention center located outside Tokyo.

The events will be held in the morning and evening. The first half will begin at 11 am JST (7:30 am IST).

The second half, on the other hand, will start at 6:15 pm JST (2:45 pm IST).