Tale of redemption for wrestler Sujeet

SINCE July last year when the Delhi High Court rejected his and woman wrestler Antim Panghal's writ petition, Sujeet Kalkal had only one dream in mind make it to the Paris Olympic Qualifier at any cost.

- FIROZ MIRZA

The court had then upheld the decision of the ad-hoc committee giving direct entry to Bajrang Punia and Vinesh Phogat in the men's freestyle 65kg and women's wrestling 53kg weight categories respectively for the Asian Games last year. The ad hoc committee, headed by former Wushu Federation of India president Bhupinder Bajwa, blatantly disregarded the wrestlers' repeated requests.

The setback meant Sujeet lost the selection trials the next day and went on to lose another trial this time for the 2023 World Championships, an Olympic qualifying event. It was a difficult time for the 21-year- old Sujeet but his father-cumcoach Dayanand Kalkal didn't let him lose the focus. The words of wisdom from his father did the trick as Sujeet won the 65kg gold at the 2023 Goa National Games and was crowned national champion in the Jaipur senior national championships this year.