Sofia: Sumit Malik has secured a Tokyo Olympics berth after making it to the finals in the 125kg freestyle category of the World Wrestling Qualifier in Sofia, Bulgaria.
SAI took to Twitter to applaud the wrestler. "Sumit qualifies for Olympics! Many congratulations to Sumit Malik as he qualifies for #Tokyo2020 in men's 125 kg freestyle wrestling after reaching the final at the World Qualifier in Sofia. He becomes the 4th male and 7th overall wrestler to qualify."
Sumit joins the elite company of Ravi Kumar Dahiya (57kg), Bajrang Punia (65kg) and Deepak Punia (86kg) in men's freestyle and Vinesh Phogat (53kg), Anshu Malik (57kg) and Sonam Malik (62kg) in women weights for those who have qualified for the Olympics.
Also Read: Asian Wrestling C'ship: Maiden gold medals for seasoned Vinesh and teen sensation Anshu
Malik will take on Russian wrestler Sergei Kozyrev in his quest to bag a gold. The Indian wrestler beat Aiaal Lazarev of Kyrgyzstan and Alexandr Romanov of Moldova to make it to the quarterfinals. There he beat Rustam Iskandari of Tajikistan 10-5 to reach the semi-finals.
In the semis, he defeated Jose Diaz Robertti of Venezuela 5-0 to reach the final.
Meanwhile, in a major development, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on Thursday announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Pfizer Inc. and its partner BioNTech SE to donate doses of their COVID-19 vaccine to Games participants from National Olympic and Paralympic Committees around the world.
National Olympic Committees (NOCs) will work with their local governments to coordinate local distribution in accordance with each country's vaccination guidelines and consistent with local regulations.
The IOC and the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) are working with the NOCs and National Paralympic Committees (NPCs) to encourage and assist their athletes, officials and Games stakeholders residing in their territories to get vaccinated in their home countries in line with national immunisation guidelines, before they go to Japan.
