Kajal, Neelam seal Commonwealth Championships spots with dominant trial wins

Kajal Dhochak and Neelam Sirohi continued their impressive run on the wrestling mat, securing qualification for the upcoming Commonwealth Championships after producing dominant performances in the selection trials.Kajal Dhochak won silver at the Wrestling World Championships. (Image: UWW)New Delhi,Nov 13, 2026 19:02 ISTWorld Championships medallists Kajal Dhochak and Neela Sirohi hardly broke a sweat, while Amruta Pujari's strategy to save attacks for the last worked wonders as they booked their slots in the Indian team for next month's Commonwealth Wrestling Championships.Kajal, who won a silver medal in Astana Worlds in India's historic show recently, needed only 35 seconds to secure her place in the women's 76kg in the Championship to be held in Polokwane, South Africa, from December 4-6.She outclassed Vedita by technical superiority with a flurry of attacks that began with a double-leg attack. Kajal lifted Vedita for a throw and followed that with another four-pointer and finished the bout with a take-down.Neelam Sirohi, who also won a silver at Worlds, pinned Neha Chugate for an easy win in the 50 kg weight division. She effected a double leg attack, got hold of her hapless rival, kept her under a tight grip until she pushed her back on the mat, using both technical and physical prowess. U23 World silver medallist Amruta Pujari stood out with her delayed attack tactics in the 72kg category. Sher began with a victory by fall over Nisha but seemed to be in trouble against Priyanka in the semifinal. She was trailing 1-2. Only three seconds were left in the bout when she effected a take-down on the edge of the circle to outwit her opponent.In the final against Bipasha, she was trailing 1-3 but towards the end she rolled her opponent from an arm-lock position and successfully pinned her. Meanwhile, Srishti defeated Mansi Lather in a dominant fashion to secure place on the Indian team in the 68kg. She began with an early four-pointer and defended her lead with all her might, conceding just a passivity point en route the win.In the women's 53kg final, Nishu expectedly beat Sneha 7-1. Nishu, who had given Vinesh Phogat a scare in her comeback bout, overpowered Sneha, who fought well till the final.Ahilya Sinde (55kg), Neha Sangwan (59kg), Pushpa (62kg) and Janvi (65kg) were the other trials winners.World Championship medallist Antim Panghal came up with a late request to compete in the trials but the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) did not allow her since she did not come for weigh-in.Meanwhile India's top wrestlers such as Aman Sehrawat, Sujeet Kalkal, new world champion Manisha Bhanwala, Nitesh Siwach, Deepak Punia and Sunit were granted exemptions from trials and allowed to compete as India's second entry at their own expense.The Commonwealth Championships allows a country to field two wrestlers in one category. The government pays only for the trials winners while the second wrestler has a choice to travel at own expense.PWL team Haryana Thunder felicitated all four women World Championship medal winners during the trials. Tanu Sharma was given a cash award of Rs 75,000 while Neelam and Kajal were handed Rs 1 lakh cheques.Gold medal-winning Manisha got Rs 1.5 lakh.- Ends