Indian wrestling is well and truly on an all-time high as the country, in what turned out to be a double delight, on Friday earned a maiden World Cup berth on the back of its best-ever sixth-place finish in men’s free-style at the World Championships in Budapest.
India finished the tournament in the men’s freestyle category with 23 points, which has catapulted the country to sixth in rankings behind Iran, Russia, Georgia, Ukraine and USA.
As per the FIlA rules, the top eight teams in the World Championship automatically qualify for the World Cup and Amit Kumar Dahiya’s silver medal in the 55kg and Bajrang’s bronze in the 60kg freestyle category ensured India their maiden World Cup appearance next year.
The freestyle wrestlers produced India’s best-ever show at the World Championship in a span of two days. The news couldn’t have come at an opportune time for the Indian wrestling community as the sport battled successfully to regain its place on the Olympic Games roster following its controversial axing in February by the IOC.
The news of India’s World Cup qualification is music to the ears for two-time Olympic medallist Sushil Kumar and Yogeshwar Dutt. “It’s raining good news for India as after wrestling’s re-inclusion in the Olympic movement, our wards performed extremely well in the World Championship. Their efforts paid rich dividends as now India’s sixth rank has led to our World Cup qualification for the first time in the history of the men’s senior wrestling,” chief coach Vinod Kumar said.
“World Championship acts as a qualifying event for the World Cup. In the next year’s World Cup, free-style wrestlers will be spearheading the country’s challenge while the fate of greco-roman and women’s wrestlers will be decided after the championship,” he said.
Prior to this, India’s best-ever finish in the World Championship in men’s category came in the year 2009 when it finished 10th, while year 2010 and 2011 saw them finish 13th and a lowly 31st respectively. “last year, World Championship in men’s category did not take place as it happened to be an Olympic year while the championship in the women’s category happened in September after the london Games,” he said.
Indian women wrestlers had qualified for the World Cup for the first time this year where they finished fifth in the eight-team event held in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia from March 1-3. But the honour of representing the country in the World Cup always eluded the senior men’s wrestlers including the likes of Olympic medallists Sushil and Yogeshwar.
Vinod, who has been with the team since 2007 and played an important role in India reaching the pinnacle of the sport, also informed that India accumulated nine points from 55kg (Amit Kumar), eight points from 60kg (Bajrang) and six points from 74kg (Narsingh) to arrive at a grand total of 23 points from the World Championship and finish sixth ahead of much-higher ranked nations.
“Our wrestling is on the ascendancy and it has been proved by our wrestlers,” he said.
Medalists get rousing welcome on return
World Championship silver medallist Amit and bronze winner Bajrang were accorded a warm welcome on their return from Budapest in the wee hours on Friday, with hundreds of supporters turning up at the international airport to receive the star wrestlers.
Both the wrestlers returned home to a hero’s welcome as fans and young grapplers from nearby akhadas came with garlands, bouquets and sweets, danced to deafening drum beats while they waited for the wrestlers to come out of Terminal 3 of the airport.
The crowd carried both Amit and Bajrang over their shoulders and welcomed them with a huge roar when they first sighted the two wrestlers coming out of the airport.
Both waved at the crowd and acknowledged the grand welcome, while relishing the carnival like atmosphere outside the terminal 3. Shouts of ‘Amit, Bajrang ki jay’ reverberated in the air.
Even before the flight from Budapest landed, a huge crowd had gathered at the arrival terminus.
Speaking to the waiting media, Amit expressed happiness over his performance and said he was overwhelmed by the reception. “I am very happy with my performance. I was gunning for the gold medal as I had practiced hard for the tournament but unfortunately couldn’t get it due to bad umpiring decision. The referee warned me for not attacking the Iranian and awarded him the point. I was a contender for gold. Nevertheless, I am happy with my performance and overwhelmed by the reception received here,” said Amit.
Bajrang, too, seemed excited to have won a bronze medal and said he wants to carry on his good perforamnce in the tournaments ahead. “I am happy to have made the whole country proud. I am happy with my perforamance. This is India’s best-ever finish in the World Championship,” he said.
Both Amit and Bajrang were unanimous in thanking their role models — two-time Olympic medallist Sushil Kumar and london Games bronze medallist Yogeshwar Dutt — for encouraging them before every bout in the World Championships. “They are our role model. Both egged us on to carry on the good work and gun for glory. Their kind words helped me a lot. They always egged me on before every bout,” said Amit.
Amit said he has become more confident post london Olympics.
“Before the Olympics, I was a nervous guy but after participating in the london Games and getting the desired exposure, I became more confident in my approach. Now, the nervousness is gone,” he said.
Coach Satpal Singh also welcomed the two heroes on their arrival and said the medal win was important for wrestling after its re-inclusion on the Olympic Games roster.
“We defeated the opponents from higher-ranked countries like Russia, USA, Georgia and Japan by big margins. We invested in these kids and they paid us rich dividends. These medals were necessary for wrestling after its re-inclusion in Olympics,” he said.