CHENNAI: For the first time since the historic protest by the wrestlers against the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI), India will send a full-strength squad for any international event. The tournament — Asian Championships — holds greater significance as only those federations who take part in the event will be able to participate in the 2023 World Championships (1st Olympic qualifier) with the same number of athletes per style.
Given the fact that wrestling is the only discipline which has fetched at least a medal for the country in the last four Olympics (2 silver & 4 bronze since 2008), wrestlers’ show at the continental event in all probability will give a fair idea of how India will fare at the 2024 Paris Games especially after the modest show in the two previous ranking series.
However, it needs to be seen how this team performs in the absence of the established names as anything less than the last few editions will put pressure on wrestlers. The biggest name to miss the event will undoubtedly be the 2020 Toko Olympics silver medallist Ravi Dahiya, who had completed a hat-trick of gold (57kg) in the event last year.
Bajrang Punia, the Tokyo Games bronze medallist, had also bagged three silver in the previous three editions but he will be missing from the action this time. Both of them are nursing injuries and had opted out of the selection trials.
Another prominent wrestler to skip the event is Vinesh Phogat. She though didn’t compete in the last edition but clinched a gold (2021) and a bronze (2020) in the 53kg before that. Incidentally, Bajrang and Vinesh led the protest against the WFI and its chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh. “No doubt India’s performance will be affected due to the absence of these stars but it’s good that 10 wrestlers in each of the three styles will be competing in
Kazakhstan from April 9 to 14. It will keep the country’s hopes alive for the first Olympic qualifier (Worlds),” Kripashankar Patel, former women’s national coach, told this daily. Despite Vinesh’s absence, India still have Anshu Malik (57kg) and Sarita Mor (59kg) in their ranks. Sarita had won gold in 2020 and 2021 and bronze in 2022 while Anshu bagged bronze, gold and silver in 2020, 2021 and 2022, respectively. Similarly, Deepak Punia (86kg), who bagged a silver each in 2021 and 2022 after winning the 2020 bronze, is also in the team but will compete in 92kg.
Even the youngsters, including the U-20 world champion Antim who had won the 53kg trials, replacing the veterans have the potential to win medals but for that to happen things need to fall in place.
National Squad
Men's Freestyle Aman 57kg, Pankaj 61kg, Anuj Kumar 65kg, Mulayam Yadav 70kg, Yash Tushir 74kg, Deepak 79kg, Jonty Kumar 86kg, Deepak Punia 92kg, Deepak Nehra 97kg, Anirudh 125kg.
Greco-Roman Rupin 55kg, Sumit 60kg, Neeraj 63kg, Ashu 67kg, Vikas 72kg, Sajan 77kg, Rohit Dahiya 82kg, Sunil Kumar 87kg, Narender Cheema 97kg, Naveen 130kg.
Women Neelam 50kg, Antim 53kg, Sito 55kg, Anshu Malik 57kg, Sarita Mor 59kg, Sonam Malik 62kg, Manisha 65kg, Nisha 68kg, Reetika 72kg, Priya 76kg.
India’s show at last three Asian Championships
2022 Freestyle: Finished 2nd with 1 gold, 3 silver and as many bronze; Greco-Roman: Finished 6th with five bronze; Women’s Wrestling: Finished 4th with 2 silver and 3 bronze
2021 Freestyle: Finished 2nd with 1 gold, 2 silver and 4 bronze; Greco-Roman: Finished 7th but no medal won; Women’s Wrestling: Finished 2nd with 4 gold, 1 silver and 2 bronze
2020 Freestyle: Finished 2nd with 1 gold, 4 silver and 2 bronze; Greco-Roman: Finished 5th with 1 gold and 4 bronze; Women’s Wrestling: Finished 2nd with 3 gold, 2 silver and 3 bronze
