Parveen Rana sustains shoulder injury, pulls out of World Championships trials
Wrestler Parveen Rana has withdrawn his name as a contender for a spot in next month’s World Championships to be held in Kazakhstan after suffering from a serious injury. This paves the way for Sushil Kumar to win the trials though he’ll be challenged by the likes of Jitender Kinha and Amit Dhankar.
Asian silver-medalist Parveen Rana has suffered a huge blow in the build-up to the World Championships trial which has forced him to extract his name from the same. The multiple Commonwealth medallist announced that he had injured his shoulder and will take at least a couple of months to get back to competing professionally. The 23-year-old has in the past sustained a career-ending neck injury, but showed tremendous grit to return to the spot and hasn’t stopped winning since.
"My injury is really grave. The muscle in my left shoulder is torn. The doctor has told me to stay off the mat for at least four weeks. l am targeting the senior Nationals to get back to the mat. There is an Olympic qualification tournament in January next year and trials will be held before that. I am sure I will get to face Sushil during those trials," Rana was quoted saying by TOI.
Rana was supposed to be Sushil Kumar’s toughest competitor in the 74 kg category trials and the two have great respect for each other. In fact, a couple of years ago, Parveen Rana had forfeited the nationals final against Kumar, only entering the ring to touch his feet before walking away.
Meanwhile, wrestlers Jitender Kinha and Amit Dhankar are also eyeing the World Championships spot, scheduled from 14th to the 22nd of September in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan. Dhankar had won the silver in the Asian Championships in China earlier in the year and belongs from Chhatrasal, which is interestingly also Sushil’s home ground.
“I’ve never fought competitively against Sushil. He is a great wrestler, but I will give my 100 percent,” Dhankar said.
Kinha, on the other hand, was much more aggressive with his words and seemed determined to make it to the top. “My target isn’t just Sushil. I want to come out on top during the trials whosoever my opponent is,” he claimed.
The 74 kg category is the only Olympic division for which the Wrestling Federation of India is yet to hold trials, with United World Wrestling having set August 18 as the deadline. A breach of the same will lead to a heavy fine being imposed on the Indian federation.