Wrestling Federation of India nominate Ravi Dahiya, Deepak Punia, Anshu Malik, and Sarita Mor for Arjuna award

The Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) has nominated wrestlers Ravi Dahiya, Deepak Punia, Anshu Malik and Sarita Mor for the Arjuna award.

Deepak won a silver medal at the 2019 World Championship in Nur Sultan while Ravi had bagged a bronze along with a ticket to Tokyo. Both will participate in the upcoming Olympics. Dahiya has emerged as a strong medal contender in the 57kg category at the Games, where he is seeded fourth.

He had recently defended his Asian title in Almaty before winning a silver medal at the Poland Open.

WFI has also nominated the 19-year-old Malik, who has won five medals in six tournaments, including the Asian title, since starting her stint in the senior circuit last year.

Sarita Mor, who missed out on Olympic qualification but won the Asian title in 59kg in Almaty, has also been nominated for the Arjuna.

National women’s coach Kuldeep Malik is already a recipient of Dhyanchand award, so his application may not be considered for Dronacharya.

Sujeet had won four Asian medals in his wrestling career before he joined Railways as a coach. He was also associated with the Indian men’s freestyle team as national coach between 2011 to 2019.

In the lifetime achievement category (Dronacharya), the WFI has nominated Jagroop Rathi, R K Hooda and R S Kundu.

Hooda is secretary of the Haryana wrestling association.

For the Dhyanchand award, WFI has sent names of Sajjan Singh, Jai Prakash, and Dushyant Sharma. The 89-year-old Sajjan Singh had competed in the 1960 Rome Olympics.