Vinesh, Sakshi to feature in Senior National Wrestling Championships

Jalandhar, Nov. 26: World Championships bronze-medallist Vinesh Phogat and Olympic medal winner Sakshi Malik will be the star attractions among women in the 2019 Senior National Wrestling Championships, to be held in Jalandhar from November 29 to December 1.

Over 500 wrestlers will be vying for top honours in the men's freestyle, greco roman and women events during the championship.

The field in the women's competition includes Tokyo Olympics medal hopeful Vinesh (55 kg), Rio Olympics bronze-medallist Sakshi Malik (62 kg), the promising Divya Kakran (68 kg), Seema Bisla (50 kg), Sarita More (57 kg) and Navjot Kaur (65 kg).

The tournament will also witness some sizzling rivalries. While Kakran is expected to get a tough fight from Pinki in the 68kg category, Navjot Kaur will have to get past Gargi Yadav in her weight class to claim the podium.

Greco Roman ace Sajan (77kg), along with ace freestyle wrestlers Gaurav Baliyan (74kg), Sumit Malik (125kg), Satywart Kadian (97kg) and Rahul Mann (70 kg), will be among the stars to watch out for among men. Meanwhile, for the first time the wrestling nationals will be streamed live in the Indian subcontinent.

"This is yet another initiative to popularise the sport across all walks of alive. Live streaming of national championship will bring the best domestic wrestling action to the fans and wrestling fraternity and I appreciate this gesture and commitment of our commercial partners Sporty Solutionz for this," Wrestling Federation of India president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh said in a statement.

"It will help the next generation of Indian wrestlers understand how the sport is played at the top."