Bajrang Punia and Ravi Dahiya, both Tokyo Games medallists, were on Sunday eliminated from the race for the Paris Olympics qualification after losing their bouts in the selection trials for the national team. 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 semi-final against Rohit Kumar.

This was after he barely managed to win against Ravinder (3-3 on criteria) in the opening round. If Ravinder had not conceded a caution point in the bout, Punia would have been eliminated in the opening bout itself. Punia had trained in Russia to prepare for the trials, which are being organised by the IOA ad-hoc panel. Punia though won a case in the Delhi High Court after contending that the suspended Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) had no authority to conduct trials.