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Bajrang Punia and Ravi Dahiya -- both Tokyo Games medallists -- were on Sunday eliminated from the race for the Paris Olympics qualification after losing their respective bouts in the selection trials for the upcoming international tournaments. Punia, who was a prominent face of protest against former WFI President Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, suffered a crushing 1-9 defeat in the men's freestyle 65kg semifinal against to Rohit Kumar. This was after he barely managed to win against Ravinder (3-3 on criteria). If Ravinder had not conceded a caution point in the bout, Punia would have been eliminated in the opening bout itself. Punia left the Sports Authority of India (SAI) Centre here in a huff after being eliminated. The National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) officials tried to collect sample for dope test from Punia but he did not stay back even for third-fourth place bout. Punia had trained in Russia to prepare for the trials, which are being organised by the IOA ad-hoc panel. Punia
The IOA ad-hoc committee on Wednesday decided to hold much-awaited Asian Games wrestling trials on July 22-23 and though the panel has not revealed the format and criteria, it may exempt current Olympic and world medallists from the selection competition which will hand direct entries to Bajrang Punia, Vinesh Phogat and Ravi Dahiya. After IOA's request for deadline extension beyond July 22 was shot down by the OCA, the ad-hoc panel met in New Delhi and decided that men's Greco Roman and women's trials will be held on July 22 and the selection of the men's free style team will be done the next day. Trials in 18 Olympic weight categories -- six each in three formats (free style and Greco Roman for men and free style for women) -- have to be conducted by the ad-hoc committee, which is managing the day-to-day affairs of WFI. "We have decided to conduct the trials on July 22 and 23 at the Kedar Jadhav hall in IG Stadium. First we will invite the Greco Roman and women's wrestlers and then