Wrestler Sandeep Tomar on Sunday secured an Olympic quota place for India in the men’s 57kg freestyle category with a bronze medal finish on the final day of the 1st World Olympic qualifying tournamen
Wrestler Sandeep Tomar on Sunday secured an Olympic quota place for India in the men’s 57kg freestyle category with a bronze medal finish on the final day of the 1st World Olympic qualifying tournament at Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.
The 25-year-old Sandeep became the fourth Indian wrestler after Yogeshwar Dutt (men’s 65kg freestyle), Narsingh Yadav (men’s 74kg freestyle), and Hardeep Singh (Greco-Roman 98kg) to book a berth for the Rio Games, to be held in August.
Sandeep earned a quota place by winning the playoff bout after having clinched the bronze medal.
“I am overjoyed at winning the quota and I think the hard yards that I put in before this qualifier have paid off. I was a little disappointed at having missed out on the final but it was important to eliminate that loss from my thinking as soon as possible,” Tomar said.
Only the top three finishers in each weight category are eligible for an Olympic berth in this tournament.
Securing a bronze medal was not enough to ensure a ticket to Rio and Sandeep had to fight with the other bronze medallist in his category for a lone third-place finish.
However, other Indian men’s freestyle grapplers in the fray on Sunday returned empty-handed. Sumit (125kg) got off to a poor start, losing his pre-quarter-final bout to Hungary’s Daniel Ligeti 4-6.
Somveer (86kg) and Satywart Kadian (97kg), meanwhile, fumbled in the initial rounds of their respective weight divisions to crash out of the event.
