Bajrang Punia, Ravi Dahiya eliminated from Paris Olympics qualification race
Sonepat (Haryana), Mar 10: Bajrang Punia and Ravi Dahiya -- the Tokyo Games medallists -- were on Sunday eliminated from the race for the Paris Olympics qualification after losing their respective bouts in the selection trials for the national team.
Punia, who was a prominent face of protest against former WFI President Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, suffered a crushing 1-9 defeat in the men's freestyle 65kg semifinal against Rohit Kumar.
This was after he barely managed to win against Ravinder (3-3 on criteria) in the opening round.
If Ravinder had not conceded a caution point in the bout, Punia would have been eliminated in the opening bout itself.
Punia had trained in Russia to prepare for the trials, which are being organised by the IOA ad-hoc panel.
Punia though won a case in the Delhi High Court after contending that the suspended Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) had no authority to conduct trials.
He left the Sports Authority of India (SAI) Centre here in a huff after being eliminated. The National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) officials tried to collect a sample for a dope test from Punia but he did not stay back even for the third-fourth place bout.
As fate would have it, it will be Sujeet Kalakal who will now strive to earn qualification in the 65kg for the Paris Games after winning a spot in the Indian team.
Sujeet had lost a legal case against Punia when he had challenged his direct entry for the Hangzhou Asian Games. Sujeet beat Rohit by technical superiority in the final.
"We have always done well in 65kg and Bajrang won a Olympic medal so it is a big responsibility for me to go and win a quota place for the country," Sujit said on Sunday.
Rohit will now represent India at the Asian Championships.
The winners at the trials will get the opportunity to compete at Asian and World Olympic Qualifiers to be held in Bishkek from April 19-21 and in Istanbul from May 9-12.
The men's 57kg, being organised in Nordic format, was always a tough category since both Tokyo Games silver medallist Ravi Dahiya and star-in-making Aman Sehrawat were in contention.
Dahiya, who is making a comeback from an injury, lost the high-scoring opening bout 13-14 to Aman. Both of them train at Chhatarsal Stadium.
Aman has made a name for himself after winning medal at almost all tournaments in 2023 when Dahiya did not compete. Aman, the Asian Games bronze medallist, staved a last-minute push from Dahiya to win the close bout. Dahiya lost the next bout to U20 Asian champion Udit to be eliminated.
Aman will represent India at the Olympic Qualifiers in 57kg and given the talent he possess, he stands a good chance to succeed.
"Competing against Ravi is always tough but I prepared well for this tournament and worked on my game. I was preparing in Russia for last one month and that has helped me," an ecstatic Aman said after his bout.
India have so far earned only one quota for the Paris Games through Antim Panghal (women's 53kg).
Other wrestlers to win trials were -- Jaideep (74kg), Deepak Punia (86kg), Deepak Nehra (97kg) and Sumit Malik (125kg).
Indian team for the Asian Qualifiers:
57kg Aman Sherawat
65kg Sujeet Kalkal
74kg Jaideep
86kg Deepak Punia
97kg Deepak Nehra
125kg Sumit Malik.
Results of selection trials:
Men's Freestyle:
57kg: 1. Aman (Haryana); 2. Udit (Railways); 3. Shubham (Haryana) and Ravi (Delhi)
61kg: 1. Aakash Dahiya (Services); 2. Nikhil (Delhi); 3. Mangal (Gujarat) and Abhishek Dhaka (UP)
65kg: 1. Sujeet (Haryana); 2. Rohit (Services); 3. Anuj (Goa) and Vishal Kaliraman (Railways)
70kg: 1. Abhimanyu (Delhi); 2. Sharwan (Services); 3. Naveen (Goa) and Ankit (Haryana)
74kg: 1. Jaideep (Haryana); 2. Yash (Railways); 3. Naveen (Services) and Vijay Kumar (Haryana)
79kg: 1. Parvinder (Haryana); 2. Sachin Mor (TRI); 3. Mohit Kumar (Delhi) and Sadashiv (Karnataka)
86kg: 1. Deepak Punia (Services); 2. Sandeep Singh (Punjab); 3. Sanjeet (Services) and Deepak (West Bengal)
92kg: 1. Vinay (Haryana); 2. Praveen Chahar (CGH); 3. Vicky (Services) and Parveen (Haryana)
97kg: 1. Deepak (Services); 2. Vicky (Haryana); 3. Karandeep Singh (Punjab)
125kg: 1. Sumeet (Haryana); 2. Anirudh (Railways); 3. Mahendera (Maharashtra) and Dinesh (Services)
Greco Roman:
55kg: 1. Arun Halakurki (Karnataka); 2. Lalit (Haryana); 3. Sanjeev (MP) and Rohit Yadav (Railways)
60kg: 1. Sumeet (Chandigarh); 2. Pravesh Kumar (Services); 3. Saurabh (UP) and Sunny Kumar (Haryana)
63kg: 1. Umesh (Delhi); 2. Parvin Patil (Mah); 3. Ankit (Delhi) and Vinay (TRI)
67kg: 1. Ashu (Railways); 2. Vinayak Patil (Services); 3. Deepak (Delhi) and Neeraj (Services)
72kg: 1. Ankit Gulia (Services); 2. Sameer (Mah); 3. Ajay Dagar (Haryana)
77kg: 1. Vikash (Railways); 2. Sajjan (Railways); 3. Karan (Gujarat) and Kuldeep Malik (Railways)
82kg: 1. Rohit Dahiya (Railways); 2. Rahul (Services); 3. Lovepreet Singh (Punjab) and Aman Kumar (Haryana)
87kg: 1. Sunil Kumar (Railways); 2. Ajay (Haryana); 3. Ravinder Khatri (Services) and Rohit Bura (MP)
97kg: 1. Nitesh (Railways); 2. Narinder Cheema (Punjab); 3. Sonu (Haryana) and Vijender (Delhi)
130kg: 1. Naveen (Services); 2. Mehar Singh (Gujarat); 3. Sonu (Delhi) and Hardeep (Railways).
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Traffic fraud: Fake 'no-entry' sticker racket busted in Delhi, mastermind among 3 held
New Delhi (PTI): Police here have busted a crime syndicate involved in traffic fraud and extortion, arresting three people including the alleged mastermind who sold fake stickers to help commercial vehicles bypass no-entry restrictions, an official said on Saturday.
The police said they dismantled a third organised syndicate linked to traffic-related frauds, with the arrest of Rinku Rana alias Bhushan, his associate Sonu Sharma and Mukesh Kumar alias Pakodi, who was also connected to another extortion syndicate.
According to the police, Rinku Rana was running a well-organised network that facilitated the movement of commercial goods vehicles during restricted hours by selling fake 'marka' or stickers for Rs 2,000 to Rs 5,000 per vehicle every month. The stickers were falsely projected as authorisation to evade traffic challans.
During raids, the police recovered Rs 31 lakh in cash, property documents worth several crores of rupees, over 500 fake stickers and six mobile phones allegedly used to operate the syndicate.
The crackdown followed a complaint filed by a traffic police officer in April this year after a commercial vehicle tried to evade checking by producing a fake sticker claiming exemption from enforcement action.
Investigation revealed that social media groups were being used to coordinate the illegal movement of vehicles and alert drivers about traffic police checkpoints, police said.
"A parallel system was being run to cheat drivers and vehicle owners while undermining traffic enforcement. On the basis of evidence, provisions related to organised crime under the BNS were invoked," a senior police officer said.
Sonu Sharma, the police said, managed social media groups through which stickers were sold and real-time alerts were circulated regarding traffic police movement. He also acted as a link between Rana and drivers operating in the field.
In a related development, Mukesh Kumar alias Pakodi, an associate of Rajkumar alias Raju Meena, who was earlier arrested under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA), was also apprehended.
Mukesh allegedly helped extort money from transporters and was involved in blackmailing traffic police personnel by recording enforcement actions, the police said.
Investigators alleged the syndicate led by Rajkumar deployed drivers to deliberately violate traffic rules and secretly record police officials during challans, later using manipulated videos to extort money under threat of false allegations.
The police said that in total, eight accused belonging to three different organised crime syndicates linked to traffic frauds and extortion have been arrested so far.
Further investigation is underway to trace the remaining members, conduct financial probes, and analyse digital evidence recovered during the raids, officials added.
