From the glory of twin medals to an almost ouster as an Olympic sport and back into the fray as a shortlisted discipline for Olympics, Indian wrestling has been on a roller-coaster much to the disappointment of young wrestlers who want to be the future Sushil Kumars or Yogeshwar Dutts.
While the International Olympic Committee (IOC) would only decide on whether the sport will be a part of Olympics come 2020, young and hopeful grapplers from the country are doing their bit to keep up the faith and be ready if and when their chance comes.
last week an Indian wrestling contingent toured Phuket for the Junior Asian Wrestling Championships and brought with them a total of 17 out of a maximum of 24 medals to be won. The male wrestlers won three gold, two silver and two bronze medals in the Freestyle category and were declared overall team champions, they also won one silver and five bronze medals in the lesser favoured Greco-Roman style. The female wrestlers weren’t far behind winning two silver and three bronze medals.
Out of eight categories, the boys winning seven medals in the Freestyle event is an achievement but the junior team’s coach Raj Singh, interestingly, believes it is the lad Pawan Kumar who could not win a medal as the most promising. “All of our wrestlers performed well but to my estimation it was Pawan Kumar in the 84 Kg category. But unfortunately he couldn’t win a medal. Sometimes a wrestler gets puzzled during competition and that’s what happened to him, He lost to the Korean wrestler who lost his next round and so Pawan could not be a part of the repechage round. Going into the tournament, I had thought that we could win a medal in every category, not necessarily gold but a medal nevertheless, but we got seven,” Raj Singh told The Pioneer.
“But what has led to this good performance is that the junior camps are being held with the seniors after a decision that was taken by the federation. This has benefitted the wrestlers a lot,” Singh added.
But the IOC’S pending decision has left a question mark, especially for a sport like wrestling which is taken up by children coming from poor families. “Itni saari mehnat karne ka kya matlab hain sir. Olympic mein to jaa nahin sakteIJ Wrestlers would ask me but I have to motivate them saying that wrestling would return to Olympics. I think there is a 99 per cent chance that it would and you have to keep the confidence,” Singh explained.
And, as a coach one might also have to play the convincing the parents part. “Yes, the wrestlers come from poor families. You know Sushil’s father was a driver while Yogeshwar’s a teacher. It’s only now they have money. Now they’ve got recognition, they don’t want to leave the sport because they know that their hard work has paid and they can get more. Otherwise people leave the sport and go in search of avenues where they can earn a living,” the coach who has trained Yogeshwar in the 90s when he used to fight in the 28kg category pointed out.
“Among the present lot, I have spoken to the families of 2-3 wrestlers. One is Mandeep who won a bronze at Phuket. He is from Sonepat and his father is a farmer. He is from a very poor family. His father is a farmer and has 2-3 acres of land. It is his uncle, who leases out land. who supports Mandeep and his family,” Singh added.
And, when a girl takes up wrestling the negativity only increases. “It is a power sport which makes it difficult and coming from a financially poor background, it is difficult for women wrestlers but you have to treat the girls like our own children. For girls especially, you have to convince the parents that they will be treated like they are treated at home,” junior women’s wrestling coach Jai Singh told The Pioneer.
“But there has been an increase in the number of wrestlers coming to camps from different areas after the twin medals last year. As a result medals have increased and so has the participation. Our strength has also increased and women wrestlers from akharas and other centres. We were runners-up last time also in the Junior Asian Wrestling Championships just like this year,” the coach explained.