Indian wrestling - things to know as we build up to the Olympics
I have been talking/writing a lot about cricket.
Vaidehi Vaidya, founder of Women in Sport India Pvt Ltd and I decided to research and talk about other sports, as we build up to the Olympics.
I have tried to capture information about wrestling in India in the article -The weight categories, wrestlers who have qualified already, international competition, the ones to look out for etc.
It has been an enriching learning to dig deep into other sports and learn about their history.
Hope you learn something new.
· Dangal happens on the mat in the Olympic style and not on mud. Hence, the Olympic transition is not very difficult. Punjab hosts the maximum number of mud dangals in India but they suffer from lack of competition.
· Players for nationals in Haryana are decided based on many tournaments and not on one match – this is apart from the dangals that happen. Other states do not have so many tournaments.
· Women & men in Haryana compete in front of big crowds daily. Hence, they have no fear or don’t get intimidated.
· The Haryana government allow their wrestlers to join Haryana Police via sports quota. Hence, there is job security.
· Families take the sport very seriously, hence, take effort to ensure their children are able to pursue the sport.
· Good coaches are also from Haryana, as the sport is widespread there.
The other states suffer from lack of competition, rewards, training facilities, administration & infrastructure.
There is also an issue of bias creeping in when selecting coaches or qualifying wrestlers as the regional dominance is very high.
Having said that, there are many exciting youngsters to look out for, especially in women’s wrestling.
In recent times, Khelo India program by the government to promote “Sports for Excellence” as well as “Sports for All” & Pro wrestling league have helped the Indian wrestlers compete better.
Olympics:
The Tokyo Olympics was postponed to 2021 due to the pandemic. It is now scheduled to be held from 23rd July to 8th August 2021.
United World Wrestling (UWW) is the international governing body that oversees the sport at the Olympics.
UWW currently recognizes six wrestling disciplines and three out of them are Olympic disciplines
1. Greco-Roman wrestling: This style of wrestling forbids holds below the waist, which is the main feature that differentiates it from freestyle wrestling. This restriction results in an emphasis on throws, because a wrestler cannot use trips to bring an opponent to the ground or hook/grab the opponent's leg to avoid being thrown. Pinning one's opponent to the mat is one way of winning. One of the most well-known Greco-Roman wrestlers is Alexander Karelin from Russia.
Freestyle: the ultimate goal is to throw and pin the opponent to the mat. This allows the use of the wrestler's or the opponent's legs in offense and defence.
2. Men's freestyle wrestling
3. Female wrestling (i.e. women's freestyle wrestling)
The other three amateur pankration, belt wrestling alysh and beach wrestling, which are not recognized by Olympics.
Rules:
You win either by pinning the opponent down on the mat – shoulder blades touching down OR by scoring more points (points can be for turns, throws/counters etc.) after two three-minute rounds.
Ultimate aim is to pin – you pin, you win OR if the difference in points is greater than 10.
There are also penalties incurred by participants for intentionally injuring the opponent or for not making any attacking movement for a full minute and trying to run away from opposition attacks.
Wrestling at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics will retain the 18 weight category format (6 weight categories in each of the 3 disciplines).
· Men's Freestyle: 57kg, 65kg, 74kg, 86kg, 97kg, 125kg.
· Women's Freestyle: 50kg, 53kg, 57kg, 62kg, 68kg, 76kg.
· Greco-Roman (Men's): 60kg, 67kg, 77kg, 87kg, 97kg, 130kg.
4 Indians who have already qualified for the Olympics:
The criteria to qualify was to finish in the top 6 at the 2019 World championships to qualify.
Men’s freestyle wrestling:
1. Bajrang punia(65kg) :
Image from Outlookindia.comOne of the favourites to win a medal for India. The only wrestler who has successively won world championship titles or Olympic gold medals. He won the gold at the 2018 Commonwealth Games and the 2018 Asian Games. He also won the silver medal at the World Wrestling Championship a year ago and Gold at the Rome Ranking Series in 2020.
2. Deepak punia(86kg):
Image from indiatoday.inIndia’s first world junior champion in 2018. First Indian wrestler to be named the “junior wrestler of the year” by UWW in 2019. He won a silver at the World championships and qualified for the Olympics.
He had a tough last few months as he lost his mother but still decided to join the National camp in Haryana. Unfortunately, he tested positive for Covid when he arrived at the camp but has recovered well.
3. Ravi kumar dahiya (57kg) :
Image from aninews.inHe won a bronze medal at the world championship to secure his place at the Olympics.
Women’s freestyle wrestling:
1. Vinesh phogat (53kg) :
Image from newindianexpress.comShe began 2019 with a bronze at the Asian Wrestling Championships and followed it up with gold at the Yasar Dogu International and Poland Open. She finished the year by clinching the Tokyo Olympics quota after a bronze medal at the 2019 World Wrestling Championships. She began 2020 with one more gold at the Rome Ranking Series.
She also had tested positive for Covid 19 but has recovered and will be looking forward to a good stint at the Olympics. The country has a lot of hope on her at this Olympics.
2 more Indian wrestlers can qualify for the Olympics:
Indian wrestlers still have two chances to qualify for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics -the first one in the Asian qualifier round in China (27th 29th March) and the last one in Bulgaria in the world qualifier slated for (30th Apr to 03rd May).
In both the tournaments in order to qualify the wrestlers have to finish in the top 2 in their respective weight category to qualify for Tokyo 2020
Since the Olympics was postponed, some juniors turn seniors and become eligible for it:
Freestyle:
74kg – Jitender
97kg – Satyawart Kadian
125kg – Sumit
Greco-Roman:
60kg – Gyanender
67kg – Ashu
77kg – Sajan
87kg – Sunil Kumar
97kg – Hardeep
130kg –Naveen
Women Wrestling:
50kg – Nirmala Devi
57kg – Anshu
62kg – Sonam Malik
68kg – Divya Kakran
76kg — Kiran
Personally, I am looking forward to seeing Divya Kakran & Sonam Malik.
National camps:
The national camp for men is currently going on in Sonepat, Haryana and in Lucknow for women. The National trials are planned to be held in Feb.
Geeta Phogat is back from Maternity & is looking to qualify for the Olympics. Sakshi Malik was defeated by Sonam Malik recently and had performed poorly at the National trials but now she can also try to qualify.
The youngsters are giving a tough fight and the old timers have their task cut out.
International competition:
Russia, Japan, USA , Cuba & Turkey have the top wrestlers in the world.
Russia has been handed a four-year ban from all major sporting events by the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) including the 2021 Olympics. It means that the wrestlers cannot compete under the Russia flag and their anthem will not be allowed to be played at the event.
Women’s wrestling
Japan is the benchmark when it comes to women's freestyle wrestling, and leading their efforts on home territory will be 62kg Olympic champion Risako Kawai. She has since moved down to the 57kg category, where she is the current world champion and in a rich vein of form.
Five-time world champion Adeline Gray. The USA grappler will compete at 76kg and is desperate to add an Olympic medal to her collection.
Men’s wrestling
Japan have another run at gold at 65kg, with 2018 world champion Takuto Otoguro recently defeating India's Bajrang Punia in the Asian Championships final.
Greco-Roman
In Greco-Roman wrestling, all eyes will be on Mijain Lopez, who has his sights locked on an astonishing fourth-consecutive 130kg gold medal, which would make him Cuba's most successful Olympian ever.
I am excited to see who fills the 2 remaining spots for India and hope that we win a lot of medals at the Olympics.
I have a lot of hope from the women this time and remember, we have never won a gold in women’s wrestling. Could this be the year?
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