Rahul Aware misses Asian Games trial to protest against WFI

Rahul Aware misses Asian Games trial to protest against WFI

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Wrestler Rahul Aware, who won the gold medal in 57 kg category at CWG Gold Coast, missed the Asian Games trials as a sign of protest against Wrestling Federation of India's decision for not giving him an exception. The event was held in Sonepat, Haryana on Saturday with winners getting direct entry.

After winning the yellow metal in freestyle wrestling, Aware was disappointed not to get an exception from WFI that other gold medalists, Sushil Kumar and Bajrang Punia, were given based on their international performances. Hence, he didn't participate in the trials to protest against the indifference.

In his absence, his state counterpart Utkarsh Kale was close to win the spot. However, Kale lost the match in dying seconds to Sandip Tomar which led to a tie between Tomar, Kale and Ravi Kumar based on round-robin system (14 points each). WFI has decided to re-conduct trials on June 13 to finalize participant in that category. 

Like Aware, Sumit Malik, gold medalist in the 125 Kg category at the Gold Coast games wasn't exempted from the trials either. However, he went through the trials and quite convincingly sealed his spot for Asian Games. 

Apart from Bajrang Punia (65Kg), Sushil Kumar (74 Kg) and Sumit Malik 125 Kg, Pawan Kumar in the 86 Kg category and Mausam Khatri in 97 Kg category too made it to India's wrestling contingent in Asian Games.

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