NEW DELHI: Star Indian wrestlers Bajrang Punia and Vinesh Phogat will return to competitive action as the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) on Wednesday announced a 34-member squad for the Matteo Pellicone, to be held in Rome from March 4-7.
The two Olympic-bound wrestlers, who had skipped the World Cup in Belgrade, Serbia in December last year, will look for a good outing at the international ranking series tournament.
The Indian freestyle team includes 2019 Worlds bronze winner Deepak Punia, Ravi Kumar and Narsingh Yadav, who returned to the mat after a four-year doping ban in December last year.
In the greco-roman category, prominent names like Arjun Halakurki (55kg) and Gurpreet Singh (77kg).
Apart from Vinesh, the only woman wrestler to have qualified for next year’s Tokyo Olympics, Rio Olympics bronze medallist Sakshi Malik and Anshu Malik, who won the silver medal at the World Cup in December, will also be seen competing in the women’s category.
Teams:
Free Style: Ravi Kumar (57 Kg), Pankaj (57 Kg), Bajrang (65 Kg), Rohit (65 Kg), Vishal Kaliraman (70 Kg), Sandeep Singh Mann (74 Kg), Narsingh Yadav (74 Kg), Jitender (74 Kg), Rahul Rathi (79 Kg), Deepak Punia (86 Kg), (Parveen Chahar) 86 Kg, Praveen (92 Kg), Satyawart Kadian (97 Kg), Sumit (125 Kg)
Greco Roman: Arjun Halakurki (55 Kg), Manish 60 (Kg), Neeraj (63 Kg), Gaurav Duhoon (67 Kg), Kuldeep Malik (72 Kg) , Gurpreet Singh (77 Kg), Harpreet Singh (82 Kg), Sunil Kumar (87 Kg), Deepanshu (97 Kg), Naveen (130 Kg)
Women: Meenakshi (50 Kg), Vinesh (53 Kg), Nandini Bajirao Salokhe (53 Kg), Anshu (57 Kg), Sarita (59 Kg), Sonam (62 Kg), Sakshi Malik (62 Kg), Nisha (65 Kg), Anita (68 Kg), Kiran (76 Kg).