Indian Squad for World Wrestling Championships 2023

The Indian contingent for the World Wrestling Championships to be held in Belgrade in September was announced on Saturday after trials were held in Patiala. A total of 10 men’s freestyle wrestlers were selected to represent India at the World Championships.

Aman Sehrawat defeated Atish Todkar to secure his place in the 57kg category. Akash Dahiya got the nod for the 61kg category. In the absence of Bajrang Punia, who has decided to skip the tournament, Anuj Kumar was selected in the 65kg category. Another Olympian and Commonwealth Gold medallist, Deepak Punia, skipped the trials allowing Sandeep Singh to represent India in the 86kg category.

In the other categories, Naveen defeated Sagar Jaglan at the 74kg trials, Pruthiviraj Patil and Sahil clinched the 92kg and 97kg births respectively. Sumit Malik beat Akash Antil to win the 125kg freestyle spot and Sachin More got selected in the 79kg category.

Aman Sehrawat (57kg) and Sumit Malik (125kg) would later be heading to Hangzhou to participate in the Asian Games.

The question of whether the selected wrestlers will be able to play under the Indian flag still up in the air after the world wrestling body (United World Wrestling) provisionally suspended the Wrestling Federation of India on Thursday for not conducting elections on time.

Earlier on Friday, a total of 20 wrestlers: 10 for Women's Freestyle and 10 for Men Greco Roman category were also selected.

This list includes big names like Antim Panghal (53kg), who became the first Indian woman to become a two-time U-20 world champion in Amman earlier this month. Sarita Mor (57kg) a 2021 World Championship bronze medalist and Divya Kakran, who managed to redeem herself for missing out on an Asian Games spot by sealing the 76kg birth.

The World Championships will take place from September 16-24 and will be held in Belgrade, Serbia.

The full list of selected wrestlers is:

Men's Freestyle:

Aman Sehrawat (57kg), Akash Dahiya (61kg), Anuj Kumar (65kg), Abhimanyu (70kg), Naveen Malik (74kg), Sachin More (79kg), Sandeep Mann (86kg), Pruthviraj Patil (92kg), Sahil (97kg), and Sumit Malik (125kg).

Women’s freestyle:

Neelam Sirohi (50kg), Antim Panghal (53kg), Neha (55kg), Sarita Mor (57kg), Anjali (59kg), Manisha Bhanwala (62kg), Antim Kundu (65kg), Priyanka (68kg), Jyoti Berwal (72kg), and Divya Kakran (76kg).

Men's Greco-Roman:

Ajay (55kg), Manish (60kg), Vikram (63kg), Vinayak (67kg), Ankit Gulia (72kg), Gurpreet Singh (77kg), Sajan (82kg), Manoj Kumar (87kg), Shailesh (97kg), and Mehar Singh (130kg).