Lucknow, Sakshi Malik’s chances of making a second appearance at the Olympics took a beating when she was beaten once again by 18-year-old Sonam Malik, this time in trials for the Indian team for the Olympic qualifiers on Wednesday in Lucknow. Sonam pinned the 2016 Olympics bronze medallist to go through in the 62kg category.
Sonam first beat Radhika and then beat Sarita Mor, who had recently won the 59kg gold at the Asian Championships. She was trailing Sakshi 1-2 in the second period when she managed to pin her opponent and thus claim a win.
Sonam had earlier appeared in the trials ahead of the Rome Ranking Series and the Asian Championships in which she had triumphed in the 62kg division after which Sakshi had to play in the tournament in 65kg. However, after an underwhelming performance in New Delhi, the Wrestling Federation of India said that the women’s 62kg category will be up for trials alongwith with the women’s 76kg and men’s 60kg.
Kiran beat Gursharan Kaur in the 76kg category to book her place at the Olympic qualifiers while Gyanender beat Vijay 4-1 in the Greco-Roman 60kg category. The Asian Olympic qualifiers, which were originally supposed to be held in X’ian, China but were moved out due to the outbreak of coronavirus, will be held from March 27 to 29 in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.
