Wrestling World Cup to get underway on Dec 12; Sakshi Malik & other stars return

The Indian wrestlers will be back in action when they participate in the Wrestling World Cup that is scheduled to be held from December 12-18  that will be held in Serbia. Meanwhile, it has been learned that there will be 42 members in the Indian contingent that include 24 wrestlers, 9 coaches, 3 support staff, and 3 referees who will be travelling to Belgrade, Serbia to represent India at the Senior Individual World Cup. At the same time, this will also be the first international competitive tournament for the Indian wrestlers since the coronavirus pandemic. 

The participants

While there will be many wrestlers who will be looking to make a name for themselves at the global level, there will also be the likes of a few accomplished athletes who will also be seen in action. They include Ravi Kumar Dahiya who had clinched a bronze at the 2019 World Wrestling Championships in the 57 kg category, the silver medal winner at the 2019 World Wrestling Championships in the freestyle 86 kg category Deepak Punia and the 2016 Rio Olympics bronze medalist who is also India's first female wrestler to win a medal at the Olympics - Sakshi Malik.

Out of these three athletes, Punia and Ravi Kumar have already secured a Summer Olympics berth (postponed to July-August 2021).

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Here's the complete list of the participants:

Men’s freestyle: Ravi Kumar (57 kg), Rahul Aware (61 kg), Naveen (70 kg), Gourav Baliyan (79 kg), Deepak Punia  (86 kg), Satyavart Kadian (97 kg), Sumit (125 kg)

Men’s Greco-Roman: Arjun Halakurki (55 kg), Gyanender (60 kg), Sachin Rana (63 kg), Ashu (67 kg), Aditya Kundu (72 kg), Sajan (77 kg), Sunil Kumar (87 kg), Hardeep (97 kg), Naveen (130 kg)

Women’s: Nirmala Devi (50 kg), Pinki (55 kg), Anshu (57 kg), Sarita (59 kg), Sonam (62 kg), Sakshi Malik (65 kg), Gursharan Preet Kaur (72 kg), Kiran (76 kg)