Indian wrestler Hardeep sprang a surprise by booking an Olympic quota place for India in Greco-Roman wrestling, which is not the country’s forte, after finishing with a silver medal in the 98kg category on the last day of the Asian Olympic Qualification championship.

• This is the first time that an Indian Greco-Roman wrestler has secured an Olympic berth after the 2004 Athens Games, when Mausam Khatri had made the cut.
• In fact, in a heavyweight category, this is the first time that an Indian Greco-Roman grappler has ensured a place in the Games.
• Hardeep qualified for the Rio Games by virtue of reaching the final. The top two finishers in each weight category in Astana are assured of a berth in the Olympics, to be held later this year.
• On his way to the final, Hardeep stunned everyone with the ease with which he overcame his rivals.
• Hardeep first thrashed Arslan Saparmammedov of Turkmenistan 11-0 during his quarter-final bout before outplaying Margulan Assembekov of Kazakhstan 11-2 in the semis to advance to the gold-medal round.

Overall, three Indian wrestlers have so far qualified for the Olympics – two (Yogeshwra Dutt and Narsingh Yadav) in men’s freestyle and one in greco-roman.

In the final bout, Hardeep lost on the account of injury default to his opponent Di Xiao of China, and had to be satisfied with a second-place finish.