Tokyo Olympic-bound Indian wrestler Sumit Malik to miss action for three weeks due to injury

Indian wrestler Sumit Malik, who qualified for the Tokyo Olympics a few days ago, will be out of action for close to three weeks due to a knee injury.

The 28-year-old defeated Venezuelan Jose Diaz of Venezuela 5-0 for a place in the final of the World Olympic Qualifiers in Sofia last week. It brought him a ticket to the Tokyo Olympics in the 125kg freestyle category.

Sumit Malik was carrying a knee injury from the Asian Olympic Qualifiers in Almaty last month and it resurfaced once again in the World Qualifiers. The injury aggravated so much that he had to give a walkover to his opponent, Russian Sergei Kozyrev, in the final.

By then, the Indian had achieved his Tokyo Olympic berth by winning his semifinal bout.

Sumit Malik’s coach Vijender Singh believes he will be fine by the second week of June. With the Games being scheduled from July 23 to August 8, Singh is optimistic that Malik will be raring to go by the time the Olympics arrives.

“Since Malik is injured, he will not train for up to three weeks. We hope he would recover from the knee injury by the first or, maybe, second week of June. It is important for him to recover fully as the Olympics are around the corner,” Vijender told IANS.

Sumit Malik suffered the knee injury in early April

Vijender revealed that the 2018 Commonwealth Games gold medallist had hurt his knee in early April. He also added that since the World Qualifiers was the last event to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics, Sumit Malik went all out for the win.

However, after his semi-final win, Malik's pain became unbearable and he decided to give the summit clash a miss. According to Vijender, Sumit Malik had somewhat managed to recover in the gap between the Almaty and Sofia events.

But he will now undergo proper rehabilitation ahead of the Tokyo Olympics.