Six CWG gold medal winning wrestlers in Asian Games squad

NEW DELHI - The Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) Tuesday announced an 18-member squad for the Asian Games that includes six Commonwealth Games gold medallists and leaves out an injured World champion Sushil Kumar.

Sushil Kumar has been replaced with Pradip Kumar. Sushil, who won the gold medal in the 66 kg category in the recently concluded Commonwealth Games, picked up a shoulder injury during the World Championships in Moscow and aggravated it during the Games at home.

The federation didn’t want to risk Sushil keeping in view the Olympic qualifiers that start next year.

Indian wrestlers won 10 gold medals at the Commonwealth Games and expectations will be high from them at the Asian Games again.

But at the Asian Games, Indian wrestlers are expected to get tough competition from Iran, Japan, Mongolia and Central Asian countries.

The squad:

Men’s

Free Style: Vinod Kumar (55Kg), Yogeshwar Dutt (60kg), Pradeep Kumar (66kg), Narsingh Yadav (74Kg), Ram Vir (84kg), Mausam Khatri (96kg), Rajiv Tomar (120kg)

Greco Roman: Rajender Kumar (55kg), Ravinder Singh (60kg), Sunil Kumar (66kg), Sanjay (74kg), Manoj Kumar (84kg), Anil Kumar (96kg), Dharmender Dalal (120kg)

Women’s team: Nirmala Devi (48kg), Geeta (55kg), Suman Kundu (63kg), Gursharan Preet Kaur (72kg)