NEW DELHI: Rio Olympics bronze-medallist
Sakshi Malik will be the star attraction and spearhead the Indian challenge in a new weight category at the
Asian Wrestling Championship
starting on Wednesday.
Sakshi, who won bronze medal in Rio in the 58kg category, will now fight in 60kg category while Sarita will take her place in the 58kg.
In a late development, the duo decided to change their weight categories by mutual consent.
"The world wrestling body has accepted their requests and Sakshi will now fight in a new weight category," said
Wrestling Federation of India
(WFI) assistant secretary
Vinod Tomar
.
In the absence of some of the leading grapplers such as
Yogeshwar Dutt, Sushil Kumar and the famous Phogat sisters -- Geeta and Babita -- the onus will be on the likes of Sakshi, Olympian
Sandeep Tomar
and Bajrang Punia to help India improve on its last year's performance at the showpiece event.
India had bagged a total of nine medals including a gold, three silver and five bronze when the tournament was held in Bangkok, Thailand last year. Sandeep (mens' 57kg freestyle) was the lone Indian to have won a yellow metal there.
This is the first major competition for the Indian wrestlers this year and the country will field a strong 24-member team for the Championship with eight each in freestyle, women and Greco-Roman categories.
During the competition, 112 freestyle, 103 Greco-Roman and 83 female wrestlers will be vying for 24 gold and silver along with 48 bronze medals.
Some of the top grapplers from Iran, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Japan, Korea, China and Mongolia, besides India will be fighting for top honours at the KD Jadhav wrestling arena at the five-day long event, which will conclude on May 14.
While all eyes would be on Sakshi, she may find it a bit tough against some of Asia's best grapplers in women's 60kg freestyle category as this is her first major outing after the Rio Games.
After scripting history by becoming the first Indian woman wrestler to win an Olympic medal at Rio de Janeiro, she only took part at the
Pro Wrestling League
(PWL) earlier this year and fought just a couple of bouts.
However, she proved her mettle at the recent trials in Lucknow for the Asian Championship, outplaying Manju 10-0 in a technical knockout.
India team:Men's freestyle: Sandeep Tomar (57kg), Harful (61kg), Bajrang (65kg), Vinod (70kg), Jitender (74kg), Somveer (86kg), Satyavrat Kadian (97kg), Sumit (125kg).
Greco-Roman Style: Gyanender (59kg), Ravinder (66kg), Deepak (71kg), Gurpreet (75kg), Harpreet (80kg), Anil Kumar (85kg), Hardeep (98kg), Naveen (130kg).
Female Wrestling: Ritu (48kg), Pinki (53kg), Vinesh (55kg), Sakshi Malik (60kg), Sarita (58kg), Ritu (63kg), Divya Kakran (69kg), Jyoti (75kg).