India will only have a solitary male wrestler at the 2024 Paris Olympics as Sujeet Kalkal (65kg) and Jaideep Ahlawat (74kg) both bowed out in their respective bronze medal bouts at the World Olympic Wrestling Qualifiers on Sunday.
Kalkal, who was competing in one of India’s more successful Olympic weight categories, lost 2-2 on criteria against the United States Zain Allen as he conceded a takedown on a counter attack after taking a 2-0 lead in the contest.
Once handed a sniff at victory, Rutherford ensured that he maintained the scoreline to walk away with a victory.
India, who had previously won the bronze medal in men’s 65kg freestyle via Bajrang Punia at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, will be unrepresented at the 2024 Paris Games in what has historically been one of their strongest weight categories.
Later in the day, Ahlawat went down 1-2 to Turkey’s Soner Demirtas in the men’s 74kg bronze medal bout after starting his day with a convincing technical superiority win over Turkmenistan’s Arslan Amanmyradov.
India will be represented by a total of six wrestlers at the 2024 Paris Olympics. While a record five women’s wrestlers from the country will be in contention for medals at the quadrennial event, the young Aman Sehrawat (57kg) is the only male wrestler from the country to qualify for the Olympics.
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