The World Olympic Games Qualifier for Wrestling is set to kick off from May 9 to May 12, 2024 in Istanbul, Turkey. This competition is the last chance for all the wrestlers to earn berths for 2024 Paris Olympics. (More Sports News)
The top three wrestlers in each weight category will attain a ticket to Paris for their country. For the rest, it’s a long four-year wait for another attempt at the sport’s highest honor.
This provides an extra opportunity to the wrestler who lost to the two best wrestlers of their respective weight classes. The repechage, bronze-medal bouts and the playoff will be held the next day.
Breakdown of quotas allocations for Paris 2024:
World Championships got 30 freestyle berths, 30 women’s wrestling and 30 Greco-Roman making a total of 90 quotas.
Similarly, the Continental Olympic Qualifiers (x4 continents) allocated 12 quotas for freestyle, 12 for women’s wrestling, and 12 for Greco-Roman, making a total of 36 quotas. At the World Olympic Qualifier, there were 18 quotas for freestyle, 18 for women’s wrestling, and 18 for Greco-Roman, bringing the total to 54 quotas.
Combined, these qualifiers provided a total of 96 quotas for freestyle, 96 for women’s wrestling, and 96 for Greco-Roman, resulting in 288 wrestlers competing in Paris.
The induvial wrestler who earns the ticket to the Olympic Games does not own the right to compete in Pairs. Ultimately, it’s the National Olympic Committee / country who selects their entry for the Games.
The four-time Olympic medalist, Mariya Stadnik (AZE) will also be in Istanbul for the World OG Qualifier -- the last chance -- in a bid to earn a Paris 2024 quota. It will also put her one step closer to winning an unprecedented fifth Olympic medal, a feat no one has achieved in wrestling.
Among the big names at 76kg, Martina Kuenz (AUT), Anastasiya Zimiankova (Azerbaijan), Yuliana Yaneva (Bulgaria), Samar Hamza (Egypt), Epp Mae (Estonia), Elmira Syzdykova (Kazakhstan), and Anastasiia Shustova (Ukraine) are taking the trip to Istanbul.
Multiple renowned athletes such as Spencer Lee and Zain Retherford will be seen competing at the World Olympic Games Qualifier. Team USA will only compete in two men's freestyle weight classes, 57kg and 65kg. Along with this, they will also participate in three Greco- Roman weight classes which are 60kg, 67kg and 77kg.
Indians At Action
Freestyle: Aman (57kg), Sujeet (65kg), Jaideep (74kg), Deepak Punia (86kg), Deepak (97kg), Sumit (125kg).
Greco-Roman: Sumit (60kg), Ashu (67kg), Vikas (77kg), Sunil Kumar (87kg), Nitesh (97kg), Naveen (130kg).
Women’s wrestling: Mansi (62kg), Nisha (68kg)
Where to watch Indian wrestlers in action?
Wrestling enthusiasts can catch the event live starting at 10:00 AM local time or 12:30 PM IST, every day from May 9th to May 12th, 2024. Real-time competition results will be accessible on the UWW Arena.
