New Delhi: The return of Indian wrestlers on the Asian Championships in Jordan was spectacular. There is no such thing as a denying that the coaching of the wrestlers suffered over the past two years with no nationwide camps being organised and no federation in place.
Reetika Hooda received silver on the Asian Championships. (Getty Photos)
Even in the beginning of the yr, the state of affairs was bleak and the wrestlers missed two essential worldwide rating sequence tournaments. The trail of the Indian group’s entry to the Asian Championships was solely cleared after the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) bought again its recognition from the Sports activities ministry final month.
For many of the final two years, the wrestlers educated of their native coaching centres. Whereas high wrestlers had been capable of practice abroad below the TOPS programme, the second rung suffered as a result of dearth of sparring companions in akhadas and lack of home tournaments.
The outcome on the Asian meet at Jordan, nonetheless, present that not a lot has been misplaced. On the akhadas, the coaches had been capable of maintain the wrestlers motivated and prepared for main competitions. India received 10 medals (1 gold-3 silver-6 bronze) and a few recent faces got here by means of displaying the depth within the sport. Ladies’s wrestlers emerged because the excessive level with 5 medals, 4 of which had been within the Olympic weight divisions.
Manisha Bhanwala (28) overcame a five-point deficit to beat Okay Ju Kim of North Korea 8-7 within the 62kg Olympic weight class to win India’s solely gold within the competitors. For somebody who had received three bronze medals on the Asian meet beforehand, Manisha stepped it up brilliantly this yr.
The immensely gifted U23 world champion Reetika Hooda (22) could be disillusioned after shedding a detailed closing 7-6 to her Paris Olympics slayer Aiperi Medet Kyzy of Kyrgyzstan. She had a good-looking four-point lead however Aiperi got here again to show the tables within the dying phases. That stated, Reetika would draw confidence from beating the Japanese in Nodoka Yamamoto within the semi-finals.
The 18-year-old Mansi Lather made a fast transition to senior stage with bronze in 68kg. After profitable the U17 Asian and World title final yr, Mansi is displaying that she is reduce out for the massive league.
Three girls medallists — Manisha, Reetika and bronze medallist in 59kg Muskan (19) come from Chhotu Ram academy in Rohtak which is hub of girls’s wrestling within the nation. “There were times when these youngsters were demotivated due to lack of tournaments but we kept the fire burning. Since we have many international medallists (age group) the quality of sparring is good. Even without the national camp, these girls got the best of facilities and that is showing,” says coach Mandeep Singh.
World championships bronze medallist Antim Panghal securing a bronze (53kg) was a aid as a result of it exhibits that she is again on observe. The Paris Olympics had been a low for the highly-rated wrestler given how she fizzled out and not using a combat after which bought dragged into an pointless controversy.
“I think the Asian meet has shown that we have good bench strength. There are two to three good quality wrestlers in every weight class. They still need to improve. Once the national camp starts, they will get good sparring partners and a schedule to work on,” stated girls’s group chief coach Virender Dahiya.
“Leading upto the world championships in September, we want to give opportunity to every wrestler. We can send different teams for international grand prix and other smaller tournaments. That will help us assess their performances. But we need to spend some time at the national camp. Some of them are also coming back from injuries.”
In males’s freestyle, the return of seasoned Deepak Punia who received silver for his sixth medal from the Asian meet was a spotlight. Nevertheless early exits of 2024 U23 World Champion Chirag Chikkara (57kg) and Sujeet Kalkal was a little bit of a dampner. Within the final 4 editions, Olympic medallists Ravi Dahiya (hat-trick of titles) and Aman Sehrawat ensured that India had the 57kg gold every time.
On the 2022 Asian Championships, India received 17 medals and the freestyle group completed simply behind toppers Iran in males’s freestyle. “We are not happy with this performance, especially in the men’s freestyle. The lower weights are where our wrestlers are good at, and we have lacked there. It will take some time before we can put the sport back on track. We had created a momentum in 2022 but now we have to start afresh,” stated a Wrestling Federation of India official.
The nationwide camp is scheduled to start on April 7. Whereas the lads’s camp might be held in ASI, Pune, the ladies’s camp is being organised in SAI centre Gandhinagar. The nationwide camp might be organised until the world championships in Zagreb from September 13-21. 4 wrestlers every in each weight class might be a part of the camp. The nationwide championships in age-group occasions may even be organised within the subsequent two months. The worldwide schedule for the season can also be being drawn.