New Delhi: Olympic medallists Sushil Kumar and Yogeshwar Dutt will spearhead India's challenge at the Senior Asian Wrestling Championship to be held from April 18 to 22 at the KD Jadhav Wrestling Stadium here. Sushil, who is returning from a shoulder injury, will be one of the top contenders in the 66-kg freestyle division.
"The Asian championships will be played in front of our home crowd and will be a good opportunity for me to return after injury. I have been training hard at the national camp keeping in the mind the expected competition and I am confident of a good performance," said Sushil. London Olympics bronze medallist Yogeshwar Dutt will also make a comeback in the 60kg freestyle division after fully recovering from a knee injury.
Amit Kumar, the 2012 Asian Championship bronze medallist, will also be seen in action in the freestyle 55kg division while 2010 Commonwealth Games gold medallist Narsingh Yadav will be competing in the 84kg category. In the greco-roman style, Asian Games bronze medallist Ravinder Singh and Sunil Rana will lead the Indian charge in the 60kg and 66kg categories respectively.
Chief national coach Vinod Kumar believes that the level of the competition in the tournament is going to be top notch and it will not be easy to reach the medal rounds.
"Asia did really well at the last Olympics and the continental championship will be one to look for. We can expect to see a number of Olympic and World champions," he said.
Strong wrestling nations including Iran, who bagged the 2012 continental title in both freestyle and greco-roman divisions, along with Japan, Korea, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Mongolia have already confirmed their entries for the event.
India has organised the Asian Championships a record five times. Delhi will play host to the tournament for the fourth time this year. India has a fairly good track record at the continental championships having won 15 medals in the last three editions of the tournament.
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