New Delhi: The return of Indian wrestlers at the Asian Championships in Jordan was impressive. There is no denying that the training of the wrestlers suffered over the last two years with no national camps being organised and no federation in place.
Even at the start of the year, the situation was bleak and the wrestlers missed two important international ranking series tournaments. The path of the Indian team’s entry to the Asian Championships was only cleared after the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) got back its recognition from the Sports ministry last month.
For most of the last two years, the wrestlers trained in their local training centres. While top wrestlers were able to train overseas under the TOPS programme, the second rung suffered due to dearth of sparring partners in akhadas and lack of domestic tournaments.
The result at the Asian meet at Jordan, however, show that not much has been lost. At the akhadas, the coaches were able to keep the wrestlers motivated and ready for major competitions. India won 10 medals (1 gold-3 silver-6 bronze) and some fresh faces came through showing the depth in the sport. Women’s wrestlers emerged as the high point with five medals, four of which were in the Olympic weight divisions.
Manisha Bhanwala (28) overcame a five-point deficit to beat Ok Ju Kim of North Korea 8-7 in the 62kg Olympic weight class to win India’s only gold in the competition. For someone who had won three bronze medals at the Asian meet previously, Manisha stepped it up brilliantly this year.
The immensely talented U23 world champion Reetika Hooda (22) would be disappointed after losing a close final 7-6 to her Paris Olympics slayer Aiperi Medet Kyzy of Kyrgyzstan. She had a handsome four-point lead but Aiperi came back to turn the tables in the dying stages. That said, Reetika would draw confidence from beating the Japanese in Nodoka Yamamoto in the semi-finals.
The 18-year-old Mansi Lather made a quick transition to senior level with bronze in 68kg. After winning the U17 Asian and World title last year, Mansi is showing that she is cut out for the big league.
Three women medallists — Manisha, Reetika and bronze medallist in 59kg Muskan (19) come from Chhotu Ram academy in Rohtak which is hub of women’s wrestling in the country. “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 relief because it shows that she is back on track. The Paris Olympics were a low for the highly-rated wrestler given how she fizzled out without a fight and then got dragged into an unnecessary 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,” said women’s team 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 men’s freestyle, the return of seasoned Deepak Punia who won silver for his sixth medal from the Asian meet was a highlight. However early exits of 2024 U23 World Champion Chirag Chikkara (57kg) and Sujeet Kalkal was a bit of a dampner. In the last four editions, Olympic medallists Ravi Dahiya (hat-trick of titles) and Aman Sehrawat ensured that India had the 57kg gold each time.
At the 2022 Asian Championships, India won 17 medals and the freestyle team finished just behind toppers Iran in men’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,” said a Wrestling Federation of India official.
The national camp is scheduled to begin on April 7. While the men’s camp will be held in ASI, Pune, the women’s camp is being organised in SAI centre Gandhinagar. The national camp will be organised till the world championships in Zagreb from September 13-21. Four wrestlers each in every weight class will be part of the camp. The national championships in age-group events will also be organised in the next two months. The international schedule for the season is also being drawn.
