Chance for Vinesh, Bajrang to shine

Jakarta, Aug. 18: Rising star Bajrang Punia and confidence-personified Vinesh Phogat will lead the Indian charge on the wrestling mat even as double Olympic medallist Sushil Kumar has a point to prove when the freestyle wrestling competition.

Rio Olympics bronze medallist Sakshi Malik will also gun for her first medal in the Asian Games after winning a bronze in the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games earlier this year.

Five of the six Indian men’s freestyle wrestlers will be in action on Sunday with CWG gold medallist Bajrang opening his campaign in the 65kg category against Uzbekistan’s Sirojiddin Khasanov.

The men’s Greco Roman and women’s competition will begin from Monday.

Bajrang is coming into the Asian Games after winning three consecutive gold medals — CWG (Gold Coast), Tbilisi Grand Prix (Georgia) and Yasar Dogu International (Istanbul) — and will be an outright favourite to claim the yellow metal.

In contrast, Sushil, India’s only athlete with two individual Olympic medals, is entering the field after losing his first bout in four years — in Tbilisi Grand Prix in Georgia last month — but sounded confident ahead of the competition.

Sushil will open his campaign with a bout against Adam Batirov of Bahrain.

Indian coaches said the competition is as tough as Olympics since mostly Asian wrestlers dominate the mat at big sporting events. — PTI

THE TEAMS Men’s Freestyle: Sandeep Tomar (57 kg), Bajrang Punia (65 kg), Sushil Kumar (74 kg), Pawan Kumar (86 kg), Mausam Khatri (97 kg) and Sumit Malik (125 kg).

Greco-Roman: Gyanender (59 kg), Manish (67 kg), Gurpreet Singh (77 kg), Harpreet Singh (87 kg), Hardeep Singh (97 kg) and Naveen (130 kg).

Women’s Freestyle: Sakshi Malik (62 kg), Vinesh Phogat (50 kg), Pinki (53 kg), Pooja Dhanda (57 kg), Divya Kakran (68 kg) and Kiran (72 kg).