India’s Deepak Punia. File
| Photo Credit: ANI
Deepak Punia and Sujeet Kalakal’s possibilities of qualifying for the Paris Olympics hit a roadblock as the 2 Kyrgyzstan-bound Indian wrestlers had been left stranded at the Dubai worldwide airport due to unprecedented rains within the gulf nation.
Deepak (86kg), who had come shut to successful a medal at the Tokyo Games, and Sujeet (65kg), had been on their way to Bishkek to take part within the Asia Olympic qualfiers, the second-last qualifying occasion for Paris Olympics, starting on April 19.
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However, the duo was left stranded at the Dubai airport after the heaviest recorded rainfall ever to hit the nation left main highways and roads flooded and one of many world’s busiest airports in a disarray.
The duo, accompanied by Russian coach Kamal Malikov and physio Shubham Gupta, has been pressured to sleep on the ground and has no entry to correct meals due to the rain-induced disaster.
Deepak and Sujeet have their weigh-in at 8am on Friday whereas the bouts are scheduled later within the day.
“They are stuck at the Dubai airport since April 16 and it seems the chance of qualifying for Paris Olympics is slipping out of their hands as they are scheduled to compete tomorrow. They are not getting any flights to Bishkek. I am worried about them,” Dayanand Kalakal, Sujeet’s father, instructed PTI.
Deepak and Sujeet had been coaching in Dagestan, Russia from April 2 to 15 and determined to fly from Makachkala to Bishkek through Dubai.
The final probability to qualify for Paris can be World qualifiers in Turkey in May.
