Junior wrestlers to experience rule changes in Asian C`ship

Indian junior wrestlers will get first taste of major rule changes in the sport when 24 grapplers participate in the Junior Asian Wrestling Championship starting in Thailand.

New Delhi: Indian junior wrestlers will get first taste of major rule changes in the sport when 24 grapplers participate in the Junior Asian Wrestling Championship starting in Phuket, Thailand on Thursday.

In a bid to keep their Olympics hopes alive, world wrestling body (FILA) had introduced changes in the point system to encourage attacking wrestling. This will be the first time Indian wrestlers will compete since FILA Extraordinary Congress last month decided to make bouts two-period affair of three minutes each, replacing best of three periods, for cumulative scores to decide the winner. A takedown will be worth two points, making it more valuable than a point for the pushout or a penalty point and passive wrestlers would be penalised. The championship will end on June 16. Indian squad: Freestyle - Mangal Kadyan (50kg), Mandeep (55kg), Pradeep Kumar (60kg), Vikas (66kg), Pradeep Kumar (74kg), Pawan Kumar (84kg), Sumit (96kg), Surjeet (120kg). Greco Roman style - Santosh Kumar Yadav (50kg), Nitin (55kg), Deepak Kumar (60kg), Sagar Ananda Patil (66kg), Gupreet Singh (74kg), Prabhpal Singh (84kg), Praveen Dagar (96kg), Mehar Singh (120kg). Female Wrestling - Sheetal Tomar (44kg), Mamta Rani (48kg), Divyanshi Tyagi (51kg), Lalita (55kg), Pooja Dhanda (59kg), Sarita (63kg), Seema (67kg), Manisha Mahadev Divekar (72kg). PTI