Injury Scare For Wrestler Anshu Malik Ahead Of Paris Olympics 2024

New Delhi: Indian wrestler Anshu Malik has suffered a left shoulder strain during training with less than a month left for the Paris 2024 Olympics.

Anshu Malik, 22, secured a Paris 2024 quota in the women’s 57kg freestyle category from the Asian wrestling Olympic Qualifiers in April this year. She also bagged a silver medal at the Budapest Ranking Series in June.

A Commonwealth Games silver medallist, Anshu returned to her base, Mirchpur Academy in Haryana, last week before suffering her latest setback. The Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) has sought a status report from the grappler and is closely monitoring her progress.

Anshu’s father and coach Dharamveer Malik, however, suggested that there was no reason for concern.

“During a practice session, she suffered strain and as a precautionary measure, she stopped training. She also underwent an MRI and there is nothing to worry. The scan is clean. Two days back she started training again. We will leave for Japan for a training camp in a few days,” Dharamveer was quoted as saying by Olympics.com.

Six Indian wrestlers – Anshu Malik (women’s 57kg), Antim Panghal (women’s 53kg), Vinesh Phogat (women’s 50kg), Reetika Hooda (women’s 76kg), Nisha Dahiya (women’s 68kg) and Aman Sehrawat (men’s freestyle 57kg) – have secured Paris 2024 Olympics.

National Olympic Committees (NOCs) have the exclusive authority for the representation of their respective countries at the Olympic Games and athletes’ participation at the Paris Games depends on their NOC selecting them to represent their delegation at Paris 2024.

With no selection trials planned, the six quota holders are poised to compete at Paris 2024.

Anshu Malik, if fit to wrestle, will feature in her second Olympic Games, following her debut at the Tokyo 2020, where she went down in the pre-quarters to eventual silver-medallist Iryna Kurachkina.

However, if any concerns over her fitness persist, the WFI has till July 8 to change nominations.