Arjun Gill, 24, is among six wrestlers nominated to represent Canada through the qualification process for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio.
TORONTO – Another Indo-Canadian wrestler, who topped the Canadian wrestling team trials, is among six wrestlers nominated to represent Canada through the qualification process for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio.
Arjun Gill, 24, won in the 97-kg freestyle category at a three-day top-calibre Freestyle and Greco-Roman competition held in Strathcona county in Alberta, earning an opportunity within Olympic weight classes.
Gill follows in the footsteps of Commonwealth Gold Medalist Arjan Bhullar, the first and only Indo-Canadian heavyweight wrestler to make it to the Olympics, who competed in the 2012 London Olympics.
Meanwhile, Wrestling Canada Lutte — the national sport governing body for Olympic style wrestling in Canada that selects and prepares Canada’s teams that participate in international competitions — said that after the trial competition that concluded on Sunday, they will now focus on qualification tournaments.
“With weight class rankings completed, Wrestling Canada Lutte staff can now concentrate on team preparations for the upcoming international qualification events in order to guarantee Canadian entries for the 2016 Olympic Games,” Tamara Medwidsky, the body’s executive director, said.
The international qualifying events would start from March with Pan American Olympic qualifier to be held from March 4-6 in the US.
The first two-day international qualifier event would kick-off on April 22 in Mongolia, while the final international qualifier event would be held between May 6 and 8 in Istanbul, Turkey.
According to an official website, the 2016 Olympic Games will be held between August 5 and 21 in which 10,500 athletes from 206 countries will take part to compete in 306 medal events.
