Sakshi Malik spearheads Indian challenge at World Wrestling Championships which kicks off on Monday

New Delhi: The World Wrestling Championships kicks off in Paris on Monday. In what is an annual tournament, it coincides with the World Badminton Championships which will run for the same seven days.

India have had some success at the World Wrestling Championships in the past, having won 11 medals including one gold and two silvers. There will be several Indian stars in action at the event.

With their eyes firmly trained on winning medals, Olympic medallist Sakshi Malik and Asian champion Bajrang Punia will spearhead the Indian challenge.

All eyes would be on Rio Games bronze-winner in 58kg, Sakshi, who bagged a silver medal at the Asian Championship in May after climbing up a division to 60kg category.

Having qualified in the same category for this championships, Sakshi would be hoping to do one better when she takes on the mat on Thursday in the women's wrestling competition.

Squad:

Men's Freestyle: Sandeep Tomar (57kg), Harphool (61kg), Bajrang Punia (65kg), Amit Dhankar (70kg), Praveen Rana (74kg), Deepak (86kg), Satywart Kadiyan (97kg), Sumit (125kg).

Women's wrestling: Vinesh Phogat (48kg), Sheetal (53kg), Lalita (55kg), Pooja Dhanda (58kg), Sakshi Malik (60kg), Shilpi (63kg), Navjot Kaur (69kg), Pooja (75kg).

Greco-Roman: Gyanender (59kg), Ravinder (66kg), Yogesh (71kg), Gurpreet Singh (75kg), Harpreet Singh (80kg), Ravinder Khatri (85kg), Hardeep (98kg), Naveen (130kg). (With PTI inputs)