Wrestlers set to get visa and leave for USA tomorrow

New Delhi: Indian wrestlers are all set to get their visas tomorrow and leave for Las Vegas, USA, for the September 7-12 World Championship, which will also double up as the first qualification tournament for next year's Rio Olympics.

The team comprising men's freestyle, female wrestling and greco-roman teams have a total of 24 grapplers, who will vie for top honours at the championship.

The top six positions in each category will ensure an Olympic berth for a country.

The men's freestyle team will have the likes of London Olympic bronze medallist Yogeshwar Dutt (65kg), Amit Kumar (57kg), Narsingh Yadav (74kg) and Mausam Khatri (97kg) fighting it out for honours.

While the women's team boost of wrestlers such as Vinesh Phogat (48kg), Babita Kumari (53kg), Geeta Phogat (58kg) and Navjot (69kg) among others.

Except for Bajrang (61kg) and Yogeshwar, all other wrestlers are expected to board the flight to the USA tomorrow night.

Bajrang will be leaving after collecting his Arjuna Award on August 29, and his good friend and colleague Yogeshwar will be giving him company.

Although the men's freestyle team chief coach Kuldeep Malik agreed that the Indian wrestlers would have been better acclimatised had they gone to the USA earlier, he still expressed confidence of his wards booking Olympic berths for the country in at least 3-4 categories.

"Besides Yogeshwar, Amit and Narsingh Mausam also have a good chance of booking an Olympic quota place for India and a couple of them can also finish on the podium," Malik told PTI.

Squad:

Men's Freestyle: Amit Kumar (57kg), Bajrang (61kg), Yogeshwar Dutt (65kg), Narsingh Yadav (74kg), Naresh Kumar (86kg), Mausam Khatri (97kg) and Sumit (125kg).

Women's Freestyle: Vinesh (48kg), Babita (53kg), Lalita (55kg), Geeta Phogat (58kg), Sarita (60kg), Anita (63kg), Navjot (69kg) and Nikki (75kg).

Greeco-Roman: Ravinder Singh (59kg), Deepak (66kg), M Rafique (71kg), Gurpreet Singh (75kg), Harpreet Singh (80kg), Manoj Kumar (85kg), Hardeep (98kg), Naveen (130kg).