Sofia (Bulgaria), May 7 (IANS): India's Sumit Malik entered the semi-finals of the mens 125kg freestyle event at the World Olympic qualifiers on Thursday, and maintained hope to earn an Olympic quota place.

If Malik wins his semi-final match, he would be in line for the quota. The top two wrestlers in each of the weight categories will be eligible to get berths for Tokyo, where the Olympics are scheduled to begin on July 23.

Malik will face next face Venezuelan Jose Daniel Diaz.

In his first qualification round, Malik beat Aiaal Lazarev of Kyrgyzstan 2-2 while in the second round, he defeated Alexandr Romanov of Moldovan 2-2. In the quarterfinals, the Indian outclassed Rustam Iskandari of Tajikistan 19-5.

But Amit Dhankar wasn't lucky enough in the men's 74kg to stay in race for Olympic quota. He lost his first round match to Mihail Sava of Moldovan 6-9.

In the 97kg freestyle event, Satyawart Kadiyan had a better start than Dhankar, winning his first round match against Portugal's Amadour Ramos 5-2. He, however, lost his quarterfinal match to Bulgaria's Ahmed Sultanovich Bataev 5-5, and crashed out.

The Wrestling Federation of India has fielded three wrestlers in the women's freestyle and six in the Greco Roman for men.

The World Olympic qualifiers is the last chance for wrestlers to make the cut for the Olympics.