Indian wrestler Sandeep Tomar`s hopes of bringing himself back into the medal contention received a major jolt as he was crashed out of men`s freestyle 57 kg competition at the ongoing Rio Olympics here on Friday.
Sandeep Tomar on 24 April 2016, secured an Olympic quota place for India in the men’s 57 kg freestyle category with a bronze medal finish on the final day of the 1st World Olympic Qualifying tournament, Mongolia, defeating Ukrainian wrestler Andriy Yatsenko with a dominating 11-0 show. He became the fourth Indian wrestler after Yogeshwar Dutt (men’s 65 kg freestyle), Narsingh Yadav (men’s 74 kg freestyle), and Hardeep Singh (Greco-Roman 98 kg) to book a berth for the Rio Olympic Games, to be held later this year.
The 25-year-old Indian debutant got eliminated from the prestigious quadrennial games after his pre-quarterfinal opponent Viktor Lebedev of Russia was beaten 1-6 against Iran`s Hassan Rahimi in their last-eight contest at Carioca Arena.