Wrestling: India

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Asian cadet championships

2017: 23 medals

India strikes it rich, July 25, 2017: The Hindu

India ended its campaign at the Asian cadet wrestling championships in Bangkok with a rich haul of 23 medals, including five golds, according to information received.

Four of the golds were won by men while Tina was the lone woman gold medallist, winning in the 65 kg category.

The medallists:

Gold: Akash Dahiya (58kg freestyle), Praveen Malik (76kg freestyle), Arshad (42kg Greco-Roman), Mohit (85kg Greco-Roman), Tina (65kg women); Silver: Naveen (54kg freestyle), Simran (40kg women); Bronze: Praveen (46kg freestyle), Rohit (63kg freestyle), Vishal (69kg freestyle), Sandeep (85kg freestyle), Srikant (50kg Greco-Roman), Bapu Kohlekar (54kg Greco-Roman); Ashu (69kg Greco-Roman), Sanjit (76kg Greco-Roman).

Deepanshu (100kg Greco-Roman), Neha (38kg women), Sanju 43kg women), Nisha (46kg women), Anju (49kg women), Sonam (56kg women), Anshu (60kg women), Karuna (70kg women).

Asian Wrestling Championships, Senior

Properly, Asian Wrestling Championship

2017

Sayantan Maitra | IBTimes, Bajrang ends India's gold drought in Asian wrestling| May 14 2017 | PTI, Silver for Sumit; 10 medals for India May 15 2017 : PTI

India finished 5th (behind Japan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan) and China, with 9 medals, 9th. No other South Asian country was among the 11 medal winning countries.

Bajrang Punia gave India its first gold medal as he registered a come-frombehind 6-2 victory over Seungchul Lee of South Korea in men's 65kg freestyle at the Asian Wrestling Championship. The 23-year-old Bajrang conceded two points in the opening half to trail 0-2 at the break. However, the Indian made a strong comeback in the second half, not allowing his rival from Korea to earn any more points. He first pushed his opponent out of the mat to take a point and then took the Korean down for two more to lead 3-2. Bajrang then went into the attack, not allowing his rival to come back into the contest.

Harpreet Singh emerged as the only shining star for India on the opening day of the Asian Wrestling Championship here in the Capital on Wednesday .Harpreet bagged a bronze medal in the Greco-Roman 80 kg category by beating China's Junjie Na by a 3-2 margin.

Anil Kumar and Jyoti brought home two more medals. They both bagged bronze medals in their respective categories. In a closely fought contest, Anil beat Muhammadali Shamsiddinov of Uzbekistan 7-6 in the men's Greco-Roman 85kg category while Jyoti finished on the podium in women's 75kg event.

Sarita won a silver medal in women's 58kg category . She lost 0-6 to Aisuluu Tynybekova of Kyrgyzstan in the final. Gold medal eluded the Indian women wrestlers even though this was their bestever performance in the Asian Championship. They finished second in the championship behind Japan with six medals, including four silver and two bronze.

India finished their Asian Wrestling Championship campaign on a resounding note with Sumit winning a silver medal in the 125 kg category on the concluding day of the continental event. Sumit went down to Yadollah Mohammadkazem Mohebi of Iran in men's 125kg freestyle gold medal bout on the final day of the competition here.

The Indian wrestlers finished with 10 medals, including a gold, five silver and four bronze, bettering their tally of nine medals in the last edition of the Championship at Bangkok.

India's medal winners:

Men's freestyle

GOLD - Bajrang Punia (65 kg)

SILVER - Sumit (125 kg)

BRONZE – None

Men's Greco-Roman

GOLD – None

SILVER – None

BRONZE - Harpreet Singh (80 kg), Anil Kumar (85 kg)

Women's wrestling

GOLD – None

SILVER - Sakshi Malik (60 kg), Divya Kakran (69 kg), Vinesh Phogat (55 kg), Sarita (58 kg)

BRONZE - Ritu Phogat (48 kg), Jyoti (75 kg)

2018

Navjot Kaur wins gold medal

March 3, 2018: The Times of India

HIGHLIGHTS

Navjot outclassed Japan's Miya Imai 9-1 in a one-sided contest of the 65kg freestyle category final

Sakshi won the bronze in the 62kg freestyle category after getting better of Kazakhstan's Ayaulym Kassymova 10-7

The two medals now took India's overall tally to six, which consisted a gold, a silver and four bronze medals

Ace wrestler Navjot Kaur scripted history by becoming the first Indian woman wrestler to win a gold in the Senior Asian Championships as she clinched the yellow metal in the 65kg freestyle category in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan

Navjot outclassed Japan's Miya Imai 9-1 in a one-sided final bout of the women's 65kg freestyle category to bag the gold. This was also India's first gold in the ongoing championships. Earlier in the day, India got another medal through Rio Olympics bronze medallist Sakshi Malik who won the bronze in the 62kg freestyle category after getting better of Kazakhstan's Ayaulym Kassymova 10-7 in a tough fight.

The two medals now took India's overall tally to six, which consisted a gold, a silver and four bronze medals.

2019

Bajrang wins gold

Hindol Basu, April 24, 2019: The Times of India

Before leaving for Xi’an, China for the Asian Wrestling Championships, star Indian wrestler Bajrang Punia had told TOI that he had honed his technique and perfected some new moves under the guidance of his personal coach Shako Bentinidis, and he would showcase that at the

championship at an opportune time. That time came on Tuesday, in the 65kg men’s freestyle final of the championship against 2018 Asian Games bronze medallist Sayatbek Okassov of Kazakhstan.

Bajrang was trailing 2-7 with just 70 seconds to go in the contest, a loss looking imminent. What followed was a thrilling counter-attack by the Indian. The 25-year-old brought out a spectacular leg attack, then combined three different types of gut wrench moves and finally scored with an exposure move to race ahead to 12-7 which remained the final score in the end. Bajrang’s famous second-period stamina came to the fore during the final. In the end, the Kazakh wrestler was too tired, having failed to sustain the first period’s momentum.

“I had to bring out all my experience during the final. The pre-tournament training that I had gone through helped me. This kind of win really boosts your confidence and gives you the belief that you can come back from any situation. Now the next target is to win at the world championship. That’ll help me to qualify for the Olympics,” Bajrang told TOI.

“Whenever Shako is at the arena watching my bout, he tells me to maintain my intensity till the end. He constantly motivates me and tells me to be aggressive on the mat.” Bajrang had also won gold in the 2017 edition of the championship but had to settle for bronze in 2018. This was his eighth gold in last nine international tournaments he has participated in. His golden run includes top positions at the 2018 Commonwealth Games and the 2018 Asian Games. On his way to the final, Bajrang had conceded just one point. He comfortably defeated Uzbekistan’s Sirojiddin Khasanov 12-1 in the semifinals. He began the day with a technical superiority win over Charles Fern of Sri Lanka and then a 6-0 win over Peyman Biabani of Iran.

On Bajrang’s win, his mentor Yogeshwar Dutt said, “This has been a spectacular performance by Bajrang. I am proud of him. He is well on course to win a medal for the country at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. He is known to last the distance and is one of the best wrestlers in the second period. That was on show in the final.”

In other results on Day 1 of the championship, Parveen Rana won silver while Satyawart Kadian clinched bronze. In the 79kg final, Rana went down 0-3 against 2017 World Championships bronze medallist Bahman Teymouri of Iran. Kadian lost in the semifinals, but came back to win the 97kg bronze medal playoff against Gao of China 8-1.

In the 57kg weight division, Ravi Kumar lost the bronze medal bout to former world champion Yuki Takahashi of Japan 3-5. The 70kg category saw Rajneesh bow out of the tournament early.

Silver for Sunil, Gurpreet

April 28, 2019: The Times of India

Asian wrestling: Sunil, Gurpreet settle for silver

Xi’an, China:

India’s Gurpreet Singh and Sunil Kumar settled for a silver medal each in their respective Greco Roman categories at the Asian Wrestling Championships.

On the penultimate day of the competition, India’s Greco Roman wrestlers have already done better than the last edition, where they had won a couple of bronze medals through Rajender Kumar (55kg) and Harpreet Singh (82kg). While Gurpreet and Sunil finished on second position, Prem missed out on a bronze medal on the fifth day of thetournament.

Gurpreet had to be satisfied with a silver after being handed a 0-8 defeat by Hyeonwoo Kim of Korea in the final of 77kg category. The 2012 Olympic gold medallist and 2013 World Championships champion, Kim also has four Asian Championships gold medals to his credit.

Gurpreet put up an impressive show on his way to the final, thrashing Bakhit Sharif Badr of Qatar 10-0 in the quarterfinals before eking out a narrow 6-5 victory over Tamerlan Shadukayev of Kazakhstan in the last four round. In 87kg, Sunil Kumar stormed into the final after prevailing over Azamat Kustubayev of Kazakhstan 6-6 in a victory by fall verdict in his semifinal bout, while he had earlier beaten Tokhirdzhon Okhonov of Tajikistan 14-7 in the last eight stage. But just like Gurpreet, Sunil too failed to clinch the top spot as he went down in the title clash to Iran’s Hossein Ahmad Nouri, the reigning Asian Games gold medallist, who also has three yellow metals from the Asian Championships. “I wish I were a little bit more aggressive. That could have changed the colour of the medal. I will strive to train harder and do better in the upcoming tournaments.

“I had a chance of training in Kazakhstan and training with foreign partners helped me improved my standard,” said Sunil after the final. PTI

India 16 medals/ Harpreet silver, Gyanender bronze

April 29, 2019: The Times of India

Harpreet bags silver, bronze for Gyanender

ASIAN WRESTLING

Xi’an, China:

India wrapped up their campaign at the Asian Wrestling Championships on a resounding note with 16 medals after Greco Roman grapplers added a silver and a bronze on the concluding day here on Sunday. Harpreet Singh settled for a silver in 82kg, while Gyanender won a bronze in 60kg on the final day of competition.

India’s overall tally of 16 medals included eight — one gold, three silver and four bronze — won by men’s freestyle wrestlers, four bronze by women and three silver and a bronze by Greco Roman wrestlers.

With this performance, India’s Greco Roman wrestlers have bettered their tally of two bronze from the last edition and is the country’s best ever showing in this discipline so far at the Asian Championships.

After a strong show en route to the final, Harpreet Singh had to settle for the secondbest position to get his first silver medal after three consecutive bronze from this tournament. In the final, Iran’s Saeid Morad Abdvali, a former world champion and Olympic medallist, didn’t allow the Indian to settle as he went on to register a comfortable 8-0 win by technical superiority. PTI

Sakshi, Vinesh win bronzes

April 27, 2019: The Times of India

Sakshi, Vinesh finish on podium

X’ian:

Rio Olympics bronze medallist Sakshi Malik and Asian Games champion Vinesh Phogat settled for a bronze each as Indian women ended their campaign without a gold medal in the Asian Wrestling Championships.

Both Sakshi (62kg) and Vinesh (53kg) lost their quarterfinal bouts but made their way to the podium through the repechage round as their victors reached the finals.

In the bronze medal playoffs, Vinesh beat World Championships bronze medallist Qianyu Pang of China 8-1 while Sakshi got the better of North Korean grappler Hyon Gyong Mun 9-6.

With the two bronze won on Thursday through Manju Kumari (59kg) and Divya Kakran (68kg), the Indian women wrestlers ended their campaign with four bronze medals.

For Sakshi, a qualifying round win on points against Thi My Hanh Nguyen of Vietnam was followed by a defeat against World Championships silver medallist Yukako Kawai of Japan in the quarterfinals in a victory by fall decision.

But since Kawai reached the final, Sakshi got a chance to feature in the repechage round where she had a comprehensive win over Jiae Choi of Korea in a victory by technical superiority decision to reach the bronze-medal play-off.

For Vinesh, it was moving up to a higher 53kg category from 50kg, in which she had won a gold in the Jakarta Asian Games, after rejig of weight classes by the world governing body for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

She had competed in 53kg at the UWW Dan Kolov-Nikola Petrov tourney in Bulgaria last month and won a silver medal. Vinesh had a disappointing start as she lost to Mayu Mukaida of Japan, who came through the qualification round. The Japanese was declared a 10-0 winner in a victory scored by technical superiority verdict. PTI

2020

Sunil’s 87kg Greco-Roman gold first after Pappu Yadav’s 48kg in 1993

Sabi Hussain, Sunil’s gold ends 27-year wait for India, February 19, 2020: The Times of India

Sunil Kumar ended India’s 27-year-long wait for a gold medal in the Greco-Roman wrestling as the 21-year-old from Haryana’s Dabarpur village recorded a 5-0 win against Kyrgyzstan’s Azat Salidinov in the 87kg final – an Olympic category – on the opening day of the Asian Championships.

Pappu Yadav was the last Greco-Roman grappler to have clinched the gold way back in 1993 in the 48kg title bout. For Sunil, the historic effort was an improvement on his own silver medal performance at the 2019 edition of the Asian meet – his first-ever senior competition after ruling the junior Asia and national circuit. At the Rome Ranking Series in January this year, Sunil had settled for silver after losing to Hungary’s Victor Lorincz.

In the bout against Salidinov, Sunil enjoyed an upperhand as he mostly relied on his sound defence, forcing his opponent off the mat and going for leg locks to quell the Kyrgyz’s challenge. In fact, Sunil’s gold medal effort was also made easy by the late injury suffered by Iran’s Behrooz Mohammadali Hedayat during his semifinal bout against Salidinov. Hedayat was leading 7-0 when he complained about having suffered a knee injury with seven seconds left in the match and retired. Eighth-seeded Salidinov looked to have no answers to fourth-seeded Sunil’s all-round show.

TOI learnt that the United World Wrestling (UWW) has its own suspicion over the Iranian’s injury-prone pullout and has ordered his dope sample collection by the National Anti-Doping Agency’s (Nada) DCOs. The UWW-appointed Asian meet’s competition manager has himself ordered the testing of Hedayat by the Nada after obtaining a written permission from the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI).

Earlier in the day, Sunil had made an impressive comeback in the semifinal bout against Kazakhstan’s Azamat Kustubayev. Trailing 1-8 in the first period of three minutes, Sunil won the contest 12-8, reeling off 11 straight points on the back of his superb ground (rolling down his opponent) technique.

“My next target is to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics from the Asian qualifiers. I am also targeting the World Championships trials in April-May. My ground wrestling technique and improved defence paid rich dividends today. I started wrestling around 2012-13 and continued to participate as freestyle wrestler until 2015 before switching to Greco-Roman. It’s been a long wait for a gold medal and I am really happy with my performance,” said Sunil, who belongs to a family of agriculturists. In the 55kg, Karnataka’s Arjun Halakurki settled for bronze with a 7-4 win against Dong Hyeok Won of South Korea. Mehar Singh, however, lost narrowly 2-3 to Kyrgyzstan Roman Kim in the 130kg bronze-medal playoff.

Greco-Roman: India finishes with 4 bronze, 1 gold

Sabi Hussain, February 20, 2020: The Times of India

New Delhi: India’s Greco-Roman wrestlers missed opportunities on the second day of the Asian wrestling championships, with three settling for bronze medals – Haryana’s Ashu and Hardeep and Punjab’s Aditya Kundu. India finished the Greco-Roman competition with four bronze and one gold.

Ashu (67kg), from Sonepat’s Panchi Jatan village, had little difficulty in overcoming the challenge of Syria’s Muhammad Alhasan 8-1. For Ashu, the colour of the medal could very well have been a gold had he not shown the unwarranted urgency in attack in his semifinal bout against Uzbekistan’s Makhmud Bakhshilloev, who won owing to technical points awarded to him after the bout ended tied 4-4.

Ashu, 19, had suffered a career-threatening shoulder injury during trials for senior national squad in March 2019. The injury to his left shoulder kept him away from the mat for almost a year before he made a comeback in the Delhi Asian meet. “For a moment, I thought my career was over before even beginning. I consulted Dr Deepak Bhatia in Mumbai and underwent rehabilitation at his clinic. The left shoulder was completely dislocated and those were painful months. I started training again only a couple of months back,” he told TOI.

India’s second bronze of the day came when 23-year old Aditya (72kg) wrapped up his bout in less than two minutes, defeating Japanese wrestler Nao Kusaka 8-0. This was Aditya’s first ever outing in the Asian championships and his second international tournament. Hardeep (97kg), the first Indian heavyweight Greco-Roman wrestler to qualify for the Olympics (2016 Rio), earned the country its third bronze on Day 2. The grappler from Jind defeated Kyrgyzstan’s Beksultan Makhmudov 3-1.

Women win 3 gold medals

Sabi Hussain, February 21, 2020: The Times of India

One battled her inner demons, another a painful elbow injury and the third overcame fever and bouts of vomiting. Their unwavering spirit meant India rejoiced its biggest-ever medal haul on a single day of competitions in the Asian championships.

On a memorable day for the country, Divya Kakran (68kg), Sarita Mor (59kg) and Pinki (55kg) showed enough intent and vigour to clinch their firstever gold each in the women’s freestyle at the IG indoor stadium here on Thursday. There could have been a fourth gold for India but Nirmala Devi lost her 50kg title clash 2-3 against two-time world under-23 champion, Japan’s Igarashi Miho, in a keenly-contested bout.

Delhi-girl Divya started the gold rush for the hosts. She won all four of her bouts by fall, including the final against reigning world junior champion, Japan’s Matsuyuki Naruha. With just five entries, the 68kg event was being competed in a roundrobin format. It’s important to mention here that the Indian women freestyle wrestlers largely benefitted in the absence of wrestling powerhouse China and North Korea.

While Chinese grapplers were forced to miss the tournament owing to the coronavirus outbreak, the North Korean wrestlers’ flight to New Delhi had a stopover in Beijing, which led to the cancellation of their arrival. Japan, another mighty wrestling nation, has sent a relatively weaker team, except in the 53kg, which will see India’s Vinesh Phogat take on reigning world champion and her nemesis, Mayu Mukaida, in the opener of her weight category.

Divya, a resident of Gokulpuri in east Delhi, represents Uttar Pradesh in domestic meets. It was India’s long-time former foreign coach, Vladimir Mestvirishvili’s guidance and discipline which helped her in winning the medal. Sports management company OGQ got Vladimir on board to train Divya at the SAI centre in Lucknow. This brought about a sea change in the wrestler’s overall technique and leg work. Vladimir joined Divya around five months back.

In the final, Divya was losing 4-4 on criteria against Matsuyuki when she locked up her opponent’s arms from the bottom and tipped her over backwards to secure a fall. “I had to win by fall to get five points from all my bouts because the Japanese was winning all her bouts by big margins. I took the risk for securing a big win. It did become tricky after leading 4-0. I was not in a great position against Matsuyuki’s lock and it could have been very dangerous. But, I took the risk and it paid off. I was told by coaches that If I get trapped, I must play safe. Luckily, I found a way to come out,” said Divya with tears in eyes.

In the other match, Rohtak’s Pinki, competing in her first-ever senior Asian championships, overcame an elbow injury which ot further got aggravated during bouts in the morning session, won a hardfought contest against Mongolia’s Bolormaa Dulguun. Pinki had clinched the bout 4-1just when the Mongolian coach successfully reviewed for passivity with just one second to go in the contest. It revised the score line at 2-1 in Pinki’s favour. As the fight ensued for just that one second, Pinki had to just avoid a contact with the Mongolian which she comfortably did.

In the women’s 59kg, Sarita, competing in her first Asian event since winning a silver in 2017 in the 58kg category, took on another Mongolian girl, Altantseteg Battsetseg, a silver medallist at the 2019 edition, and won 3-2. With 21 seconds left in the bout, both wrestlers were locked 2-2 and it looked like anyone’s gold. However, with just 11 seconds more to go, Sarita cleverly pushed her opponent off the mat to secure the crucial one point.

Women: Sakshi wins silver, 3 others bronze

Sabi Hussain, February 22, 2020: The Times of India

India clinched one silver and three bronze medals on Friday as the women’s wrestling competition concluded at the Asian championships. Sakshi Malik settled for silver in the non-Olympic 65kg weight category, while Vinesh Phogat (53kg), Anshu (57kg) and Gursharan Preet Kaur (72kg) had to be content with a bronze each.

The medals won would make an average Indian wrestling fan rejoice. But for the wrestling federation (WFI) officials, women’s team’s foreign, national and personal coaches, the wrestlers themselves and those allocating money sitting at the Sports Authority of India (SAI) headquarters under various heads, the results should act as an eye-opener and lead to a serious introspection.

It should be a reality check on where our women wrestlers stand and what are India’s medal possibilities in women’s wrestling at the Tokyo Olympics. So far, only Vinesh has qualified for Tokyo. On Friday, the story of the day was simple: Indians ran into stronger Japanese opponents and lost. The hosts simply had no answers to Japanese wrestlers’ speed, agility and impeccable defence.

The women wrestlers then fought relatively weaker Uzbek, Kazakh, Kyrgyz and Mongolian opponents in repechage and won their respective bronze playoffs. But these victories should not be a matter of celebration as women’s wrestling powerhouse, China, and North Korea have not come. Besides, Japan has not sent its fullstrength contingent.

Vinesh was the biggest draw of the day, but ran straight into reigning world champion Mukaida in the opener. Vinesh paid for her passivity, lack of attacking intent and inability to breach Mukaida’s leg defence as she was humbled 2-6. This was Vinesh’s third straight loss against the Japanese. Vinesh must now go back to the drawing board and reassess her strengths and weaknesses. Her coach Woller Akos, who has been with her since February 2019, should also ask questions to himself as to where has he been lacking in his training and mentoring.

Sakshi was competing in a non-Olympic category after losing the selection trial in her pet 62kg category to ever-improving Sonam, who lost to Kyrgyzstan’s Tynybekova Aisuluu 11-0 in her bronze playoff. Sonam was earlier humbled by Japan’s Yukako Kawai 5-2.Sakshi lost to Japan’s Naomi Ruike but won against South Korea’s Ohyoung HA and Uzbekistan’s Nabira Esenbaeva. In the final, she lost to Naomi in the final.

2021

Sarita tops

Scripting a sensational comeback, an aggressive Sarita Mor reeled off nine straight points in the summit clash to retain her Asian Championship title in 59kg while Seema Bisla (50kg) and Pooja (76kg) settled for bronze medals.

Vinesh, Anshu win gold

Hindol Basu, April 17, 2021: The Times of India

Over the years, India’s star woman grappler Vinesh Phogat had achieved seven podium finishes at the Asian Wrestling Championships, but never a gold. The 26-year-old had to her credit three silver and four bronze since the 2013 edition of the championship.

Finally, Vinesh broke the jinx at the 2021 edition. Helped to some extent by the absence of Chinese and Japanese opponents, Vinesh cruised to the title without losing a single point in the 53kg category in Almaty, Kazakhstan. Vinesh overpowered Mongolia’s Otgonjargal Ganbaatar by technical superiority in the first round and repeated that performance against Meng Hsuan Hsieh of Chinese Taipei to sail into the semis.

She then got a walkover in the semifinals as Korean Hyunyoung Oh pulled out due to an injury. Vinesh was up against Hsieh for a second time in the day in the final. She once again dominated her Taipei opponent, pinning Hsieh 6-0 to claim gold.

This was Vinesh’s third straight gold of 2021 in three events, after earlier winning in Ukraine and at the Matteo Pellicone Ranking Series in Rome.

In-form Anshu too good

Youngster Anshu Malik, who qualified for the Tokyo Olympics a week back, also won her first Asian gold as she beat Battsetseg Altantsetseg of Mongolia in the 57kg final. Anshu won two of her bouts by technical superiority and then beat Altantsetseg after the latter was given three cautions during the bout.

The 19-year-old then outsmarted South Korea’s Shinhye Lee in the semis, before triumphing 3-0 against Altantsetseg in the summit clash.

Anshu, who belongs to Nidani village in Haryana’s Jind district, comes from a family of wrestlers. She took her formative training in the sport under coach Jagdish Sheoran at the Chaudhary Bharat Singh Memorial Sports School in Nidani. Her father, Dharamvir Malik, was an international wrestler himself who now grows wheat. Anshu’s uncle, Pawan is also a decorated wrestler.

“Initially, Anshu was focused more on her studies. She was a brilliant student and used to top her class quite often. When she was 12, Anshu saw her brother Shubham going for wrestling practice. She was drawn to the sport and tagged along with her brother to the training centre.

“We come from a family of wrestlers and I was delighted to see her enthusiasm for the sport. So, I didn’t discourage her one bit,” Dharamvir told TOI. “Anshu’s strong point is her endurance. She will keep wrestling against an opponent until they get tired.”

Divya’s second Asian gold

Another gold was bagged by Divya Kakran. The 22-year-old won three bouts in a row, including a stunning 8-5 victory over reigning Asian champion Zhamila Bakbergenova of Kazakhstan.

Divya also defeated South Korea’s Sujin Park and Mongolia’s Tsevegmed Enkhbayar to emerge with most wins in the 72kg category, which had four wrestlers competing. Divya became only the second Indian after Sarita Mor to win two gold medals at the Asian meet. She had earlier won gold in 68kg category in the 2020 edition. Rio Olympics bronze-medallist Sakshi Malik settled for silver after being pinned by Mongolian Bolortungalag Zorigt in the 65kg final, a non-Olympic category. This was her second Asian championship silver, having clinched her first in the 2017 edition.

Ravi retains gold

Hindol Basu , April 18, 2021: The Times of India

Wrestling fans were waiting with bated breath for the highly-anticipated clash between India’s star wrestler Bajrang Punia and his Japanese nemesis Takuto Otoguro. Over the years, Otoguro has been Bajrang’s bete noire, having defeated the Indian in the final of the 2020 Asian Wrestling

Championships and the final of 2018 World Wrestling Championships. Bajrang had particularly struggled with his leg defence against Otoguro.

Keeping the Tokyo Olympics in mind, it was important to see what improvement Bajrang had brought to his game against the Japanese when the duo clashed against each other at the ongoing 2021 Asian Wrestling Championships in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

Bajrang and Takuto duly made their way into the 65kg freestyle final after some impressive performances in the early rounds. But, the final proved to be anti-climactic with Bajrang pulling out due to an injury.

Ravi Dahiya, on the other hand, retained his 57kg crown with a dominant 9-4 win against Iran’s Alireza Sarlak. It was Ravi’s first competitive tournament in over a year. Like Bajrang, Ravi has also secured his quota for the Tokyo Olympics. Both wrestlers had booked their berths at the 2019 World Championships.

Bajrang, later, revealed that he had injured his right elbow during the quarterfinal against Korean Yongseok Jeong and did not want to aggravate the condition further. “When I was pulling the Korean, the pain in my right elbow resurfaced. It’s the same elbow that I had injured during the World Championship. The coaches advised that I must not take risk it so close to the Olympics, that’s why I withdrew,” Bajrang said.

Bajrang did not look his usual self in the tournament. However, he seldom faced much competition en route the final. He had no difficulty in getting past Jeong, who hardly attacked. Bajrang’s first scoring point was a take-down on the counter and he earned one more for the passivity of his rival, winning the encounter 3-0. Next for him was Mongolia’s Bilguun Sarmandakh, whom he pinned 7-0 to ensure his passage to the summit clash.

Ravi, meanwhile, put on a commanding show and gave India its first gold in men’s freestyle in the tournament. He dominated Uzbekistan’s Nodirjon Safarov in his opening bout, winning 9-2. In his semifinal match, Ravi won by technical superiority against Palestine’s Ali M M Aburumaila. The title clash against Alireza was expected to be a tight one, but a fast and agile Ravi proved to be far superior. “In the lead-up to the Olympics, I am concentrating on improving my technique every day. Besides, I watch videos of other wrestlers, which helps me in developing new strategies,” Ravi said after his title win.

In other weight categories, Karan won bronze in the 70kg division with a 3-1 win over South Korea’s Lee Seungbong, while Narsingh Yadav beat Ahmed Al Gburi of Iraq 8-2 for a bronze in the 79kg non-Olympic category. Satywart Kadian also won a bronze in the 97kg category with a 5-2 win over South Korea’s Minwon Seo.

Deepak Punia wins silver

Asian wrestling: Deepak Punia settles for silver

Almaty: Deepak Punia’s defence fell apart in front of his idol and Iranian legend Hassan Yazdanicharati as the Olympic-bound Indian settled for a silver medal, while Sanjeet claimed a bronze on the concluding day of the Asian Wrestling Championships here on Sunday. Deepak lost his 86kg final inside the first period by technical superiority. Another Indian earning a podium finish on Sunday was Sanjeet (92kg), who beat Uzbekistan’s Rustam Shodiev 11-8 in the bronze playoff.

2022

A

Sabi Hussain, April 20, 2022: The Times of India

India’s Greco Roman wrestlers made up for their noshow at the previous edition of the continental meet in Kazakhstan’s Almaty, clinching three bronze medals on the opening d ay of the Senior Asian Wrestling Championships in the Mongolian capital of Ulaanbaatar on Tuesday. India had won 14 medals, including five gold and six silver, at the Almaty meet last year to finish third on the medal table. But all those medals had come from the men’s and women’s freestyle wrestlers.


In Ulaanbaatar, India’s medal hopes rested on the shoulders of two-time medallist Sunil Kumar. The 23-year-old from Haryana’s Dabarpur village delivered a bronze-winning performance in the 87kg category. Sunil won by ‘technical superio rity’ against local boy Batbayar Lutbayar after opening up a healthy lead of 5-0 early in his bout. Earlier, the Indian suffered an 8-0 defeat by ‘technical fall’ against last edition’s gold medallist in the 82kg, Uzbekistan’s Jalgasbay Berdimuratov, in his semifinal bout. Sunil was seeded in the quarterfinals and faced Japan’s Sumi Masato in his first match, which the Indian won 5-3.

In the 55kg category, Arjun Halakurki edged past Mongolian Davaabandi Munkh Erdene 10-7 in the bronze p lay-off to add to the country’s medal tally. Ear lier, the Indian went down tamely against Kazakhstan’s Amangali Bekbolatov 10-1 in the quarterfinals. This was Arjun’s second bronze at the Asian meet after having finished third on the podium in the 2020 edition.

In the 63kg section, Neeraj defeated Uzbekistan’s Islomjon Bakhramov 7-4 in the repechage for the bronze. Neeraj had lost his q uarterfinal to eventual champion Tynar Sharshenbekov from Kyrgyzstan. Two other Indians in the fray, Sajan Bhanwal (77kg) and Prem Kumar (130kg couldn’t r egister their names on the medal sheet. While Sajan was overpowered b y Japan’s Kodai Sakuraba, Prem lost his 130kg qualification bout to Iran’s Amir Mohammadali Ghasemimonjazi.

B

Sabi Hussain , April 21, 2022: The Times of India

New Delhi: India’s Greco Roman grapplers ended their campaign at the ongoing Asian wrestling championships with five medals after Harpreet Singh and Sachin Sahrawat claimed a bronze each on the second day of the continental meet in Mongolia’s Ulaanbaatar.


Harpreet won the bronze in the 82kg category after his rival, Qatar’s Jafar Khan, didn’t take the mat owing to an in jury. Earlier, the Indian had lost to Rasoul Garmsiri in his quarterfinal bout after the Iranian went for a reverse lift from a par terre position to get five points and ultimately pi n his opponent down. In the 67kg category, Sachin registered a win ‘by fall’ over Uzbekistan’s Mahmud Bakhshilloev to clinch the bronze.


The Indian had lost to 2018 World bronze medalist Meiirzhan Shermakhanbet from Kazakhstan in his quarterfinal bout after his opponent gained an arm lock and somersaulted Sachin onto his back before getting a headlock for a fall.

On Tuesday, former Asian champion Sunil Kumar (87kg), Arjun Halakurki (55kg) and Neeraj (63kg) won bronze medals. This was India’s second-best show at the Asian Championships after the coun try’s Greco Roman wrestlers had claimed gold and four bronze at the 2020 edition of the meet in Delhi.

In the other bouts of the day involving Indians, Gyanendra lost his bronze play-off to Japan’s Ayata Suzuki by technical superiority in the 60kg category. Vikas was defeated by Uzbekistan’s Mirzobek Rakhmatov in the 72kg category, while Ravi lost to Kyrgyzstan’s Uzur Dzhuzu pbekov in the 97kg division.

C

Sabi.Hussain , April 23, 2022: The Times of India

Defending champion Anshu Malik couldn’t repeat her last edition’s heroics. The girl from Nidani in Haryana’s Jind district, settled for silver after going down to reigning world champio n (55kg), Japan’s Tsugumi Sakurai, in the final of the women’s freestyle 57kg category at the Asian Wrestling Championships in Mongolia’s Ulaanbaatar.

Joining Anshu on the podium were Radhi ka who clinched a silver medal in the 65kg category, and Manisha who clinched bronze in the 62kg division. The bronze would have brought some comfort to Manisha, who ha d lost her father days before leaving for the event.

The other two Indian women wrestlers in the fray on Day 4 of competitions – Swati Shinde and Nikki – couldn’t make the medal round after faltering in their respective group stages. While Swati finished sixth in the 53kg category, Nikki ended fourth among five athletes in the 72kg class.

Indian women wrestlers concluded their campaign with five medals, none managing to secure a gold medal finish. On Thursday, another defending champion, Sarita Mor (59kg), and Sushma (55kg), had settled for a bronze each. On the final d ay of the women’s events, Anshu raised hopes of another gold when she breezed past Uzbekistan’s Shokhida Akhmedova 10-0 in her opening bout. The Tokyo Olympian looked in devastating form and crushed the challenge of Singapor e’s Danielle Sue Ching Lim 10-0 to march into the semis. In the last-four meet, Anshu, the 2021 Oslo World Championships runner-up, showed no respect to former Asian silver medallist (62kg) Mongolia’s Bolortuya Khurelkhuu and tamed her 11-0 for a place in the final. However, luck deserted the Indian when Japanese Sakurai got the better of her ‘by fall’ in the final.

D

Sabi Hussain, April 24, 2022: The Times of India

Ravi Dahiya came, fought and walked away with top honours. The Tokyo Olympics silver medallist seemed to be in a tearing hurry, steamrolling his opponents one bout after another, to finish on top of the podium at the Asian Wrestling meet in Ulaanbaatar.


No other Indian grappler had won three gold medals at the Asian meet. Ravi did it by clinching his third consecutive gold in a dominating fashion in the men’s freestyle 57kg category. In the final, the Indian was 0-2 down against Kazakhstan’s Rakhat Kalzhan after his opponent effected a take down. 
However Ravi, who hails from Nahri village in Haryana’s Sonepat, made a superb comeback to build an 8-2 lead in the first period, courtesy three well-executed takedowns. In the second period, Ravi continued to dominate Kalzhan with his speed and relentless single leg attacks to win by technical superiority (12-2 on points).

Olympics bronze medallist Bajrang Punia fought valiantly against world junior champion Iranian Rahman Amouzadkhalili but lost 1-3 in a close contest in the 65kg category. In the 79kg final, it was heartbreaking to see Gaurav Balian losing the title bout despite drawing parity at 9-9 each with a takedown of Iranian Ali Bakhtiar Savadkouhi. However, Savadkouhi won because of scoring a high move of four points earlier in the bout to deny Gourav his maiden Asian crown. Naveen (70kg) and Satyawart Kadian (97kg) won a bronze each.

E

Sabi Hussain , April 25, 2022: The Times of India

New Delhi: Tokyo Olympian Deepak Punia settled for silver, while Viky clinched bronze as Indian grapplers ended their campaign at the Asian Wrestling Championships in Mongolia’s Ulaanbaatar with 17 medals, with Ravi Dahiya being the lone gold winner, in the men’s freestyle 57kg category. The haul included one gold, five silver and 11 bronze medals.

On the fina l day of the event on Sunday, Deepak got the 86kg men’s freestyle silver after losing 1-6 to Kazakhstan’s Azamat Dauletbekov in the title bout. The Indian’s lone p oint came beca use of the Kazakh’s passivity. It was Deepak’s fourth medal a t the Asian Championships, having won a silver (2021) and two bronze (2019, 2020) in the earlier editions. Deepak had r eached the final without conceding a single point, defeating Iran’s Mostafavi Alanjagh 6-0 in the quarters and South Korea’s Gwanuk Kim 5-0 in the semis.

In the 92kg division, Viky secured a bro nze after edging past Uzbekistan’s Ajiniyaz Saparniyazov 5-3. In the 61kg category, Mangal Kadyan lost his bronze medal bout to his Kyrgyz opponent Ulukbek Zholdobeshkov 4-6 after outsmarting Kuwait's Alm ohaini 10-0 in the repechage round. The two other Indians in the fray – Yash (74kg) and Anirudh Kumar (125kg) – failed to cross the qualification stage.

2023

A

April 10, 2023: The Times of India

Astana : Young grappler Rupin secured a silver in 55kg Greco Roman his first senior-level international medal as India made a superb start to their campaign at the Asian Wrestling Championships. While 19-year-old Rupin won silver, two other Greco Roman wrestlers, Neeraj (63kg) and Sunil Kumar (87kg), claimed bronze medals.


Rupin lost 1-3 to Iranian Poya Soulat Dad Marz in the final after coming into the summit clash from the qualification round with the help of three successive wins. Rupin has to his credit a bronze at the 2019 World Cadet Championships. PTI

C

April 12, 2023: The Times of India

New Delhi : India’s Nisha Dahiya secured the biggest-ever medal of her promising wrestling career when she won a silver in the women’s 68kg category at the Asian Championships in Astana, K azakhstan. Another Indian wrestler, Priya Malik, clinched a bronze in the women’s 76kg category after beating Japan's Mizuki Nagashima in the repechage round. Priya, the U-20 W orlds silver medallist, had beaten Chinese Taipei’s Hui Tsz Chang in the qualification round before going down to Kyrgyz Republic's Aiperi Medet Kyzy in the second round.


Nisha , who made a sensational comeback in her semifinal, defeating China’s Feng Zhou 7-6 in a nail-biter after trailing for the better part of the bout, found the going tough against a superior Japanese oppone nt Ami Ishii and lost her gold medal match by technical superiority. 
TNN

D

April 13, 2023: The Times of India

Antim Panghal won silver at the 2023 Asian Wrestling Championships in the 53kg division, after a 10-0 loss to Japanese phenom Akari Fujinami in Astana, Kazakhstan. Fujinami, the reigning world champ ion, successfully defended her Asian crown in comfortable fashion. The 19-year-old led 4-0 in the opening minute before closing out the match inside the first round.


Indian women claimed fiv e more medals during the day. Anshu Malik (57kg), Sonam Malik (62kg), Manisha(65kg) and Reetika (72kg) secured bronze a s all the Indian women in fray secured podiu m finishes. World under-20 champion Antim had defeated Singapore’s Hsiao Lim 10-0, China’s Li Deng 6-0 and Uzbekistan’s Aktenge Keunimjaeva ‘by fall’ to enter the final and ensure her first medal in the event. Indian women collected seven medals, including two silvers and five bronzes, in the continental event. Nisha Dahiya (68kg) had won a sil ver and Priya (76kg) clinched a bronze.


On previous days, Greco Roman wrestler Rupin (55kg) bagged silver, while Neeraj (63kg), Vikas (72kg) and S unil Kumar (87kg) clinchedbronze medals.

E

Sabi Hussain, April 14, 2023: The Times of India

New Delhi : Orphaned at the age of 11 when his parents passed away due to different medical conditions within a span of a year, a shy and thinly-built Aman Sehrawat found solace in the world of wrestling when his uncles dropped him at the city’s Chhatrasal Stadium to put his life back on track.


On Thursday, Aman – the reigning World U23 champion – paid a rich tribute of love to his parents and uncles when he defeated Kyrgyzstan’s Almaz Smanbekov 9-4 in the final of the men’s 57kg freestyle category to emerge champion at the Asian wrestling meet in Astana. It was Aman’s second senior medal at the international stage, having clinched a bronze at the ranking series tournament in Zagreb earlier this year.


Aman, who co mpetes in Tokyo Olympics silver medallist Ravi Dahiya’s category, looked in ominous touch since the beginning of his competition bouts. His relentless attacks simply knocked the daylights out of his opponents. He outclassed Japan’s Rikuto Arai 7-1 in the quarterfinals before defeating China’s Wanhao Zou 7-4 in the semifinals.


In the final bout, Aman led Smanbekov 3-2 in the first period after t railing him 1-2 following a takedown by the Kyrgyz wrestler. However, in thesecond and final period, Aman employed a double leg attack to further his lead before securing four more points through h is relentless attacks. With 39 seconds left on the clock, the Indian suffered a cut above his right eye which required a medical timeout. Blood was flowing down his face and it took nearly a minute for doctors to stop it. Aman didn’t let the break disturb his momentum and fought a tactical contest by remaining evasive to his opponent’s attacks to clinch his maiden Asian title.


The 19-year-old had joined Chhatrasal eight years ago under the guidance of coach Lalit. It was a decision taken by his uncles to send him away from their village in Haryana’s Jhajjar district to distract him from thinking about losing his parents at such an early age. He justified the decision by winning a bronze at the World Cadet Championship in 2018, before securing the Asian title in the junior category. He became a national champion in 2021 and followed the triumph up with U23 Asian and World titles in 2022.


Earlier, Deepak clinched a bronze in the men’s 79kg category, defeating Tajikistan’s Shuhrat Bozorov 12-1 in the medal match. He had staved off a tough challenge from Mongolia’s Byamba dorj Bat Erdene 4-1 in the quarters before losing 0-10 to Uzbek Bekzod Abdulrakhmonov in semis.

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April 15, 2023: The Times of India


New Delhi: India finished its campaign at the Asian wrestling meet with 14 medals after freestyle wrestler Anirudh Gulia won bronze in the men’s 125kg division on the final day of the event in Astana. Gulia defeated Uzbekistan’s Sardorbek Kholmatov 12-2 via technical superiority in the medal match.

2024

A

April 12, 2024: The Times of India

Bishkek: Rising Indian wrestler Udit settled for a silver medal after a 4-5 loss to Kento Yumiya of Japan in the men's free-style 57kg final at the senior Asian Wrestling Championship on Thursday. India also won two bronze through Abhimanyou and Vicky in their respective categories.


Abhimanyou defeated Begijon Kuldashev of Uzbekistan 6-5 in men's 70kg free-style, while Vicky pinned down home favourite Andrey Romanovitch Aronov 10-1 in the men's 97kg for India's third medal of the day.


However there was heartbreak for Rohit Kumar (65kg), who had defeated Bajrang Punia in the trials, a s he lost to Masanosuke Ono of Japan 3-5 in his bronze medal match.


In the 57kg final, the 19-year-old Indian and his Japanese rival were locked four-all with seconds left on the clock. However, the Japanese demonstrated impressive agility and awareness, swiftly breaking free from Udit's grasp. With just seconds remaining, Yumiya seized the initiative by executing a quick shoot on Udit's right leg.


The precision of Yumiya's technique was evident as he drove Udit off the mat, earning the decisive point to seal the gold. It was Udit's second medal at the senior level, hav- ing won a silver at the UWW Ranking Series event in Tunisia in 2022.


It was a tough opening bout for Udit, who was up against Ebrahim Mahdi Khari but the Indian got past his Iranian rival with a close 10-8 win. He followed it up with a 6-4 victory against local favourite Almaz Smanbekov and in the semifinal he edged Korea's Kum Hyok Kim 4-3.


Parvinder Singh was the only Indian wrestler who could not enter the medal round on Thursday as he bowed out in the 79kg competition after losing 0-3 to Japan's Ryunosuke Kamiya in qualification.


PTI

B: QFs, Semi finals

April 14, 2024: The Times of India

Bishkek: Radhika (in pic) was the lone Indian woman wrestler who assured herself of a medal, her second at the senior Asian Championships, by reaching the 68kg final here on Saturday.
Radhika, who won a silver at the U23 Asian Championships last year and also finished second at the senior Asian Championships in 2022, put up a dominant show in her weight category. 


She won the first bout by technical superiority against Kazakhstan’s Albina Kairgeldinova and then pinned Kyrgyzstan’s Gulnura Tashtanbekova.


She will now face Japan’s Nonoka Ozaki in the gold med- al bout. Shivani Pawar (50kg) lost her quarterfinal ‘by fall’ to Ziqi Feng but made it to the bronze medal round after the Chinese entered the final.
In 55kg, Tamanna lost her qualification round by a comprehensive 0-9 margin to Moe Kiyooka but since the Japanese reached the final, the Indian bounced back into medal contention.


Pushpa Yadav (59kg) and Priya (76kg) also have a chance to end on the podium as their vanquishers also reached the respective finals to open the doors for them. 
PTI

C

April 15, 2024: The Times of India

Silver for Anju, Harshita in Asian Championships

Bishkek (Kyrgyzstan) : The champion’s title continued to elude Indian wrestlers at the Asian Championships with Railways wrestler Anju, who had outclassed Vinesh Phogat in the selection trials, and Harshita settling for silver medals even as Sarita Mor was eliminated after a shock defeat in her opening round. Competing in a highlycompetitive 53kg weight category, Anju logged back-toback wins by technical superiority against Philippines’ Aliah Rose Gavalez and Sri Lanka’s Nethmi Ahinsa Fernando.


She faced some resistance from China’s Chun Lei before prevailing 9-6 in the semifinal.


In the final, Anju clashed with North Korea’s Ji Hyang Kim but she could not score and lost the gold-medal match by technical superiority. Harshita conceded just three points en route the final, outclassing Uzbekistan’s Ozoda Zaripboeva by technical superiority (13-3) and beating Kazakhstan’s Anastassiya Panassovich 5-0.


PTI

D: Dahiya makes it to bronze-medal round

April 17, 2024: The Times of India

Bishkek: India’s Rohit Dahiya made it to the bronze-medal round, making him the only Greco-Roman wrestler from the country to be in contention for a podium finish at the Asian Championships.

On a day when all other Indian Greco-Roman grapplers continued to come up with below-par performances, Dahiya (82kg) set up a bronze-medal match-up with Uzbekistan’s Mukhammadkodir Rasulov, ranked 12th in the world.
The other three wrestlers on show, Parvesh (60kg), Vinayak Siddheshwar Patil (67kg) and Ankit Gulia (72kg) got eliminated in the preliminary rounds.


However, Dahiya, who had represented the country in the 2022 World U-20 Championships in Sofia, despite losing his quarterfinal bout to Japan's Yoshida Taizo on points 7-2, made it to the bronze-medal round as the opponent he lost to made it to the final.


In the 60kg category, Parvesh lost his pre-quarterfinal bout by technical superiority to Kazakhstan's Galym Kabdunassarov, while Hanjae Chung of South Korea overcame Vinayak Patil 7-1 on points in the 67kg category quarterfinal. PTI

Asian Olympic qualifiers

2021: Five Indians for Asian Olympic qualifiers

Five Indian wrestlers selected for Asian Olympic qualifiers: Five Indian wrestlers, including Haryana’s Sonam Malik, will compete at the Asian Olympic Qualifying Event and 2021 Asian Wrestling Championship to be held in Kazakhstan from April 9 to 18. Apart from Sonam, the other four wrestlers to make the cut are Seema (50kg), Anshu Malik (57kg), Nisha (68kg) and Pooja (76kg). AGENCIES

Asian Under-15 Girls

2018: 7 medals

Jr wrestlers win seven medals in Asian meet, November 18, 2018: The Times of India

Indian wrestlers bagged a rich maul of seven medals, including three gold, to finish overall second at the just-concluded Asian Under-15 Girls Championships in Fujimi, Japan.

Besides three gold, including one won by World Cadet bronze medal winner Sweety (43kg), India also won three silver and one bronze at the eight-nation event which concluded on Friday.

Hosts Japan finished on top in the inaugural event by winning six gold medals.

Commonwealth Wrestling Championship

2017/ 59 medals

December 18, 2017: The Times of India

Sakshi Triumphs Too As India Finish With 29 Gold In CW Wrestling

Double Olympic medallist SushilKumar made a glorious return to the international arena by clinching a gold as India won an impressive 59 medals at the Commonwealth Wrestling Championships in Johannesburg.

The other gold medals winners for India were Utkarsh Kale (57kg), Sharvan (61kg), Bajrang (65kg), Amit Dhankar (70kg), Jitender (79kg), Deepak (86kg), Somveer (92kg), Rubaljeet Singh (97kg) and Hitender (125kg).

Besides Sushil, Another Olympic medallist, Sakshi Malik, who won a bronze in the 2016 Rio Games, also clinched a gold medal in the championships. Sakshi defeated New Zealand's Tayla Tuahine Ford by a score of 13-2 in the final of the 62kg women's freestyle category to add another yellow metal for India.

The freestyle wrestling team won 10 gold, seven silver and two bronze medals on Sunday as India returned with a total of 29 gold, 24 silver and 6 bronze from the championships.

Earlier in the day returning to international wrestling after more than three years, Sushil defeated New Zealand Akash Khullar's via a pinfall in the final of the 74kg freestylecategory toclinchthe yellow metal. It was his first medal in international wrestling since his gold medal in the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.

Sushil returned to competitive wrestling in November at the Senior Nationals in Indore where he won a gold medal amid controversy after getting three walkovers from his fellow wrestlers.

Incidentally, it was Praveen Rana who gave him a walkover in the title clash in Indore, but the duo wrestled this time and Sushil came out on top with a 5-4 victory margin here. In his first bout, Sushil defeated Johannes Petrus Botha of South Africa 8-0 followed by thewin over Rana. Sushil alsobeat Jasmit Singh Phulka of Canada by fall en route his gold medal.

Achievements, in brief

December 18, 2017: The Statesman

December 16, 2017: The Indian Express

Gold medal winners: 55 kg. Rajender Kumar, 60 kg. Manish, 63 kg. Vikas, 67 kg. Anil Kumar, 72 kg. Aditya Kundu, 77 kg. Gurpreet, 82 kg. Harpreet, 87 kg. Sunil, 97 kg. Hardeep, 130 kg. Naveen.

Silver medallists: 55 kg. Naveen, 60 kg. Gyanender, 63 kg. Gaurav Sharma, 67 kg. Manish, 72 kg. Kuldeep Malik, 77 kg. Manjeet, 82 kg. Amarnath, 87 kg. Prabhpal Singh, 97 kg. Sumit, 130 kg. Sonu.

Emerging Indian star Parveen Rana got the bronze in the 74kg category, beating Johannes Petrus Botha of South Africa in the play-off for the third place.

Sakshi Malik, the only Indian female grappler to clinch an Olympic medal, also bagged a gold medal. The Rio Olympics silver medallist defeated New Zealand’s Tayla Tuahine Ford 13-2 in the final of the women’s 62kg category.

The Indians dominated most of the weight categories in the men’s freestyle with Bajrang (65kg), Jitender (79kg) and Sumit (125kg) also winning gold in their respective events. Hitender (125kg), Somveer (92kg) and Jitender (79kg) had to be content with bronze medals.

The Indian women also imposed total domination in the competition, winning gold in each of the 10 weight categories.

Apart from Malik, Kiran (72kg), Divya Kakran (68kg) and Ritu Malik (65kg) emerged champions in their respective categories on Sunday while Pooja (76kg) and Ravita (59kg) finished with silver medals. Kavita (76kg) and Manu Tomar (72kg) took bronze.

“The best thing is that Indian wrestlers were involved in a strong competition after a long time. Wrestlers from Nigeria, Australia, Canada and New Zealand are really strong, both technically and physically, specially in the middle weight categories like the 74kg and 86kg,” he said.

Dan Kolov-Nikola Petrov

Dhanda wins gold, Sakshi silver

Dhanda wins gold, silver for Sakshi, March 2, 2019: The Times of India

Pooja Dhanda claimed gold in the 59kg category while Rio Olympic bronze medallist Sakshi Malik settled for a silver medal in the 65kg category at the Dan Kolov-Nikola Petrov wrestling in Ruse, Bulgaria Vinesh Phogat displayed great form to make the 53kg finals with a win over world silver medallist Sarah Hildebrandt of USA.

In the men’s freestyle, Sandeep Tomar lost his final bout in the 61kg category to finish with silver. With Dhanda and Malik’s podium finishes, India have won four medals so far.

Bajrang wins gold, Vinesh Silver

Hindol Basu, Unstoppable Bajrang wins yet another gold, March 4, 2019: The Times of India

It’s His Fifth In Last Six Int’l Tournaments; Silver For Vinesh

India’s star wrestler Bajrang Punia won his fifth gold medal in last six international tournaments when the 25-year-old defeated Jordan Olivier of USA in the 65kg freestyle final at the Dan Kolov-Nikola Petrov International wrestling tournament in Ruse, Bulgaria. Bajrang was a convincing winner; the victory margin being 12-3 in favour of the 2018 CWG, Asiad champion.

Vinesh Phogat had to be satisfied with silver in the 53kg weight class; she suffered a shock 2-9 defeat to China’s Qiaun Pang in the final.

Bajrang has been in superlative form in the last 12 months. He won gold at Yasar Dogu International wrestling tournament in Istanbul, Turkey, and then followed it with gold at Tbilisi Grand Prix in Georgia, two more gold medals at the 2018 Commonwealth Games and Asiad. He won silver at the 2018 World Wrestling Championships in Budapest, Hungary – narrowly missing out on the gold against Japan’s Takuto Otoguro.

Now, Bajrang has started 2019 with a bang. He was ranked the world No. 1 wrestler in 65kg category by United World Wrestling (UWW) in November 2018.

After the win, Bajrang dedicated his gold to Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman. He tweeted: “I want to dedicate my gold medal to Indian Air Force’s brave fighter Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman. He has inspired me. I want to meet him one day and also shake hands with him.”

Talking to TOI about his performance, Bajrang said, “The competition was very tough; therefore, the gold holds a lot of value for me.”

He added: “Till now, my performance in 2019 has been good and I am keen on maintaining that. That’s why I am training hard – so that I can repeat what I did in 2018. In 2019, we have the all-important World Championship. But before that there is the Asian Championship. “The World Championship is very important for me because it is the qualification tournament for the 2020 Olympics. A medal in the World Championship will help me qualify for the Olympics. That’s why I am making sure there are no shortcomings in my preparations.”

Vinesh was competing in a higher weight category — she used to grapple in 50kg earlier. She has gone on record that she will participate in the 53kg category from now onwards “in order to lower the risk of injuries and remain in wrestling for a longer period”. This was her first tournament in the 53kg class.

“I have to work on my upper body strength as my opponents are stronger,” Vinesh said after the loss. “I have to know my opponents (in the 53kg weight category) and how they wrestle, their technique, their style, the moves they use often. That will be very important and that is why I participated in this tournament,” she added.

Before Bajrang and Vinesh’s medals, India had won three more in the tournament. Sandeep Tomar came home with silver in the 61kg category. Pooja Dhanda won gold in the 59kg weight class, while Rio Olympics bronze-medallist Sakshi Malik won silver in the 65kg section.

Junior Asian Championships

Junior Asian Championships

2018

Day 1: 4 medals

July 18, 2018: The Times of India

India's Greco Roman wrestler Sajan gave his blood and sweat before emerging champion in the 77kg category as the hosts claimed four medals, including two silver and a bronze, on the opening day of the Junior Asian Championships here. Four of the five Indians in action today returned with medals as Manjeet opted out of event due to an injury. Sajan opened India's gold account while Vijay (5kg) and Aryan Pawar (130kg) settled for silver medals. Kumar Sunil won bronze in the 87kg. Sajan overcame Iran's Shayan-Hosein Afifi 3-0 in the final to better his last year’s performance at the event when he won a bronze in Chinese Taipei.

More medals, and misses

July 20, 2018: The Times of India

Gold Coast CWG bronze medallist Divya Kakran had to settle for silver after being too defensive in the final against nemesis Meerim Zhumanazarova while Karuna and Reena returned with bronze medals at the Junior Asian Wrestling Championship.

All five Indian girls in action reached the final round but Sangeet Phogat (59kg) and Shivani Pawar (50kg) lost their bronze-medal bouts.

Gaurika takes lead: Indian golfer Gaurika Bishnoi made just one birdie on the second hole but still managed to grab the lead at the end of the second round of the Hero Women’s Pro Golf Tour in Bengaluru. She carded one birdie and three bogeys in her 74 that put her 1-over 145 and gave her a one-shot lead over Tvesa Malik (71). Neha Tripathi found the going tough with six bogeys and no birdies in her 78.

Junior World Wrestling Championships

2018

Sajan, Vijay in final

Sajan, Vijay in Junior World C’ship final, September 19, 2018: The Times of India

Indian wrestler Vijay bagged the bronze medal in the 55kg Greco-Roman category after defeating Cihat Ahmet Liman of Turkey 16-8 in the Junior World Championships in Trnava, Slovakia.

He beat Kim Doohoon of Korea 3-1 in the quarterfinal but lost to Armenia's Tigran Minasyan 10-0 in the semifinal.

In the 60kg Greco-Roman style, another Indian, whose name is also Vijay, reached the final with a win over Ali Reza Ayat Ollah Nejati of Iran. Asian champion Sajan Bhanwal also advanced into the finals of 77kg greco-roman with a 4-1 win over Dmytro Gardubei of Ukraine.

Sihag in final, Mansi gets bronze

September 21, 2018: The Times of India

Trnava (Slovakia): Grappler Naveen Sihag shocked defending champ Daton Duain Fix to progress to the 57kg gold medal bout of the men’s free style competition at the junior world wrestling championship while Mansi grabbed a bronze in the women’s 57kg.

2021

A

Wrestler Ravinder in Junior Worlds final

Ufa: Upcoming Indian wrestler Ravinder lined himself up for his second international title by reaching the 61kg final of the junior world championship while Gourav Baliyan (79kg) and Deepak (97kg) won bronze medals here on Tuesday. Ravinder had won the Asian Cadet title in 2018 and also won a silver at the 2019 Under-23 World championship. The 20-year-old Baliyan won the bronze play-off in just 65 seconds, winning his bout against Germany’s Richard Shroeder by technical superiority. Deepak took the 97kg bronze with a 3-2 win over Milan Andras Korcsog from Hungary. Ravinder controlled the semifinal against Armenia’s Levik Mikayelyan after trailing 0-2, losing both points on push out. His tactical acumen was on display as he kept effecting point-scoring moves one after another. AGENCIES

B

August 19, 2021: The Times of India

Ravinder settled for a silver medal after being outwitted by his Iranian opponent but Bipasha emerged a surprise finalist in the women’s 76kg to keep India’s gold medal hopes alive at the junior world wrestling championship.

Making full use of repechage route, Yash (74kg), Pruthvi Babasehb Patil (92kg) and Anirudh (125kg) grabbed bronze medals as India finished their men’s free style campaign with six medals. Gourav Baliyan (79kg) and Deepak (97kg) had won bronze.

Up against a strong Rahman Mousa Amouzadkhalili, who had won the Yasar Dogu senior event in June this year, Ravinder could not make his moves as he was largely left to defend in the 61kg title clash.

The Iranian kept Ravinder tangled in locks to win 9-3. In 74kg play-off, Yash first scored a confident 9-2 win over Armen Musikyan from Armenia and then pulled off a 12-6 win over Kyrgyzstan’s Stambul Zhanybek Uulu after trailing 2-5. PTI

C

Ufa (Russia) Outclassed in the final, Bipasha (76kg) had to be content with a silver medal but a tenacious Sanju Devi kept her cool and relied on her stamina to secure a place in 62kg title clash at the Junior Wrestling World Championships.

Simran (50kg) and Sito (55kg) won bronze medals to add to India’s tally but Arju forfeited her 68kg bronze play-off due to injury.

Bhateri also made her way into the 65kg final while Saneh will fight for bronze after losing her 62kg semifinal. Bipasha lost her final by technical superiority to America's Kylie Renee Welker, who executed ‘fitley’ move to finish the bout quickly.

Sanju emerged star of the day for India. She may not look athletic but was quick with her moves and reflexes as she beat Germany's Lusia Schrel 5-2 and then erased a 0-3 deficit to edge past Croatia's Iva Geric 4-3 in the quarterfinals.

In the semifinal too she was down 0-5 but relied on her stamina to win 8-5 against Azerbaijan’s Birgul Soltanova. PTI

D

August 21, 2021: The Times of India

A gold medal remained elusive for India at the junior world wrestling championship as both Bhateri (65kg) and Sanju Devi (62kg) lost their respective finals rather tamely while Saneh (72kg) was stretchered out of the mat after enduring a knee injury in the bronze play-off.

Sanju Devi had managed comeback wins in her previous bouts but Friday was not her day as Russia’s Alina Kasabieva took the gold with a technical superiority win. The match was over inside the first period.

Bhateri also failed to put up a fight and lost the 65kg final by technical superiority to Moldova’s Itina Ringaci. Bhateri’s strategy to play a waiting game proved to be a mistake as she hardly attacked. Bipasha (76kg) had won a silver while Simran (50kg) and Sito (55kg) won bronze medals on Thursday. The Indian women ended with five medals in the meet. PTI

E

August 21, 2021: The Times of India

A gold medal remained elusive for India at the junior world wrestling championship as both Bhateri (65kg) and Sanju Devi (62kg) lost their respective finals rather tamely while Saneh (72kg) was stretchered out of the mat after enduring a knee injury in the bronze play-off.

Sanju Devi had managed comeback wins in her previous bouts but Friday was not her day as Russia’s Alina Kasabieva took the gold with a technical superiority win. The match was over inside the first period.

Bhateri also failed to put up a fight and lost the 65kg final by technical superiority to Moldova’s Itina Ringaci. Bhateri’s strategy to play a waiting game proved to be a mistake as she hardly attacked. Bipasha (76kg) had won a silver while Simran (50kg) and Sito (55kg) won bronze medals. The Indian women ended with five medals in the meet. PTI

Matteo Pellicone

2021: Sarita wins silver, Kuldeep bronze

Sarita settles for silver: Sarita Mor won a silver medal while Kuldeep Malik bagged a bronze at the Matteo Pellicone Ranking Series wrestling event in Rome. Indian grapplers secured three medals in the Greco-Roman category on Friday, taking the country’s tally to five medals.

Gold for Vinesh, finals for Punia

Vinesh wins gold, gets back number one rank

Rome: Living up to the expectations, star Indian wrestler Vinesh Phogat grabbed the 53kg gold medal along with world number one rank while Bajrang Punia booked his spot in the final of the men’s 65kg event at the Matteo Pellicone Ranking Series event, here on Sunday. It was second gold medal for Vinesh in as many weeks with a dominant win as the 26-year-old blanked Canada’s Diana Mary Helen Weicker 4-0 in the title clash

Olympics qualifiers

2020

Ravi wins gold, Bajrang silver

Sabi Hussain, February 23, 2020: The Times of India

If you are gunning for gold at the Tokyo Olympics, you better deliver it with golden performances. Defending champion Bajrang Punia failed in his endeavour, settling for a silver in his 65kg category, fast-rising Ravi Dahiya ensured that the national anthem reverberated across the K D Jadhav wrestling arena at the IGI stadium here. Ravi, the World under-23 silver medallist, pulled off a dominant 10-0 victory on ‘technical superiority’ over Tajikistan's Vohidov Hikmatullo to win gold in the 57kg category.

Ravi’s gold ended Indian wrestlers’ streak of silver medals on the fifth day of competitions at the ongoing Asian championship. Satyawart Kadian (97kg) and Gourav Baliyan (79kg) had settled for silver apart from Bajrang, while Naveen (70kg) conceded defeat in his bronze medal playoff. In 97kg final, Satyawart lost 0-10 to Iran's Mojtaba Goleji, while Gourav was humbled 5-7 by Kyrgyzstan's Arsaian Budazhapov as the duo settled or silver.

Ravi had won a bronze in the previous edition of the Asian meet in Nur-Sultan.

Ravi was in his elements, never allowing his competitors to settle down. He constantly moved around the mat, scoring points with his quick ‘in-and-out’ leg attack, solid defence and forcing his opponents off the mat. He faced the biggest challenge of getting past the likes of former world champion, Japan’s Yuki Takahashi, and fellow World bronze medallist, Kazakhstan’s Sanayev Nurislam, in the initial rounds. Once he did that – beating Takahashi (14-5) and Nurislam (7-2) – Ravi did not let the gold slip from his grasp.

“I had faced both of them earlier, so I was confident of beating them. I just followed my routine and didn’t experiment much. I wanted to win the gold in front of the home crowd. I am confident of winning a medal at the Olympics too,” said Ravi, who had beaten Nurislam 6-0 in 61kg category at the Rome ranking series event in January last.

Bajrang’s 2-10 loss in the 65kg final to much-superior and technically sound, Japan’s Takuto Otoguro, somewhat took the sheen off what has been a creditable performance by host wrestlers. Bajrang has been touted as India’s biggest medal hope in wrestling at the Tokyo Games, but his recent performances haven’t been giving the kind of confidence which one should expect from a champion grappler, who also happens to be the World No. 2 in his weight category. An athlete can have a bad day in office, but the way Bajrang lost the plot against Otoguro was disheartening. In the morning session, Bajrang had won all three of his matches by technical fall, including a 10-0 win over Iran’s Amirhossein Maghsoudi in the semifinals.

Bajrang, the reigning CWG and Asian Games champion, had won gold in the Rome series, but all his victories were hard-fought, with little to separate him and his opponents.

For the record, Saturday’s was the rematch of the 2018 World championships final in Nur-Sultan, where Otoguro had prevailed 16-9 in a thriller. That classical bout was hailed as the ‘Match of the Year’ by the wrestling’s world body, UWW. Sadly, the same thriller and classic was missing.

Jitender wins silver; others 2 bronzes

February 24, 2020: The Times of India

Jitender Kumar sealed his place in the Indian team for the Olympic Qualifiers with a silver medal at the Asian Championship, a result that could slam the Tokyo Games door on veteran Sushil Kumar. Two-time Olympic medallist Sushil had skipped the continental event citing an injury.

A gold eluded India on the second day of the men’s freestyle competition with Deepak Punia (86kg) and Rahul Aware (61kg) finishing with bronze medals.

Up against Kazakhstan’s Daniyar Kaisanov, Jitender showed tremendous defensive skill, but was lacking in attack. The Indian lost 1-3 to the defending champion.

However, his performance was enough to convince the national federation that he should travel to Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan for the Olympic Qualifiers, without a re-trial. It means that Sushil, who also competes in 74kg, will have to wait and see how Jitender fares in Bishkek, where the finalists will directly qualify for the Tokyo Games.

If Jitender reaches the gold medal bout there, it will affect the prospect of Sushil, who has been struggling since the 2018 Asiad. If Jitender fails to shine in Bishkek, the last chance would be through a qualifying event in April.

World championship silver medallist Deepak lost his 86kg semifinal to Japan’s Shutaro Yamada.

The Indian contingent wrapped up the campaign with twenty medals, their best-ever in the meet, that includeed one gold and four bronze in the Greco Roman category; three gold, two silver and three bronze in the women category and one gold, four silver and two bronze in the men’s freestyle. AGENCIES

Sonambeats Sakshi, Sakshi; makes cut for Oly qualifiers

February 27, 2020: The Times of India

Proving her mettle yet again, young Sonam Mailk downed Sakshi Malik for the second time in a row, this time by pinning the Olympic medallist, to make it to the Indian team for next month’s Olympic qualifiers here on Wednesday. Asked to re-appear in trials after not-so-strong performance at the Rome Ranking series event and the recently-concluded Asian Championships, the 18-yearold Sonam tore apart the challenge of established seniors in the 62kg competition.

She first got past Radhika and then caring little for reputations, Sonam beat the Asian Championship 59kg gold medallist Sarita Mor (3-1) in the semifinals before winning by fall against Rio Olympics bronze medallist Sakshi in the final. PTI

Pro Wrestling League auction

2015

The Times of India, November 4, 2015

Successful bids at Pro Wrestling League’s auction, 2015; Graphic courtesy: The Times of India, November 4, 2015

Ritu Sejwal

Dutt top Indian pick in wrestling auction

The wrestling fraternity joined the league bandwagon with over 50 Indian and international grapplers put up for auction for six franchises in the capital. London Olympics bronze medalist Yogeshwar Dutt emerged the highest-paid Indian while 2015 World Championship gold medalist Oksana Herhel of Ukraine was the top international draw in the auction for the Pro Wrestling League. Yogeshwar and Oksana were picked by Haryana for Rs 39.70 lakh and Rs 41.30 lakh, respectively. Two-time Olympic medalist Sushil Kumar, who got the secondhighest bid after Yogeshwar, went to Uttar Pradesh for Rs 38.20 lakh.Belarus' Vasilisa Marzaliuk (69kg), with base price of Rs 23 lakh, was a surprise pick by Punjab as she earned Rs 40.20 lakh.

Sushil Kumar, Yogeshwar Dutt, Narsingh Yadav, Geeta Phogat, Sofia Mattison and Adeline Gray were the icon players whose base price was Rs 33 lakh.

“I had not given the auction much thought but I am happy it went well. Wrestling league will change the way people look at the sport and bring more popularity .Youngsters will benefit and new champions will emerge,“ Yogesh war told TOI on Tuesday .

“After Beijing and London Olympics, a lot of young kids have taken to wrestling. But many still think wrestling is a village sport and I am sure this (league) will change that mindset. Wrestlers who come from weak financial backgrounds will be able to use this money for better training and diet,“ he added. When asked about getting a winning bid more than Sushil Kumar, Yogeshwar said, “May be they liked me. I always wanted to go to Haryana.“

A total of 54 wrestlers were purchased by six franchises, with price purse of Rs 2 crore each, including Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Uttar Pradesh.Each team consists of nine players including five Indians and four international players. Haryana were the biggest spenders with Rs 1.96 crore, followed by Punjab who spent Rs 1.85 crore.

In the tournament, to be held from December 10-27, each team will be allowed to field five Indians and four international players, including five men and four women.

World Championship bronze medalist Narsingh Yadav, who went to Bengaluru, earned the third highest bid for an Indian at Rs 34.50 lakh while Geeta Phogat was picked by Punjab for Rs 33 lakh. Her sister Babita, with base price of Rs 23 lakh, and Vinesh, with base price of Rs 20 lakh, were picked by UP and Delhi for Rs 34.10 lakh and Rs 29.70 lakh, respectively . Geetika Jakhar (69kg) went home at her base price of Rs 10 lakh.

World Championship bronze medalist Bajrang, whose base price was Rs 23 lakh, was purchased by Bengaluru for Rs 29.50 lakh.

“The league will help us prepare better for Olympic qualification. By competing against and watching experienced wrestlers, we will have a better understanding of attack and defence, and it will help us improve our technique,“ said Bajrang.

Rankings

India’s best

2017

February 16, 2018: The Times of India

SAKSHI MALIK

Silver (60 kg) at the Asian Championship, losing to Japan’s Risk Kawao. Gold (62kg) at Commonwealth Wrestling Championships. Gold (62kg) at the National Wrestling Championships.

SARITA MOR

Silver medal (58 kg) at the Asian Wrestling Championship in New Delhi, losing to Krygyztan’s Aisuluu Tynybekova. Silver medal (59kg) at the National Wrestling Championships.

BAJRANG PUNIA

Gold medal (65 kg freestyle) at the Asian Wrestling Championship in New Delhi, beating South Korea’s Seungchul Lee 6-2. Beat Kukgwang Kim 3-2 in the semi-finals and previous Asian Championship goldmedallist Meisam Nassiri 7-5 in the quarters. Gold medal (65kg freestyle) at the Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games in Ashgabat, beating Daichi Takatani of Japan. Silver at Under-23 World Wrestling Championship.

SUMIT KUMAR

In his comeback to the international circuit after seven months, having recovered from back surgery, he won a silver medal (125kg) at the Asian Wrestling Championship in New Delhi. Also won gold at the National Wrestling Championships.

VINESH PHOGAT

Silver medal (55kg) at the Asian Wrestling Championship in New Delhi. Returning post a career-threatening injury, this was her first tournament since the Rio Olympics. Next, won gold at the National Wrestling Championships, beating fellow Haryana grappler Manisha.

2018: Bajrang Punia becomes world no.1 in 65kg

Bajrang Punia becomes world number one in 65kg, November 10, 2018: The Times of India

Star Indian wrestler Bajrang Punia on Saturday touched a new high in his career by achieving the number one rank in the world in the 65kg category.

The 24-year-old Bajrang, who has won five medals this season, including CWG and Asian Games gold and a silver at the World Championship, was placed atop the ranking table with 96 points in the UWW list.

It has turned out to be a remarkable season for Bajrang, who was also the only Indian grappler to be given a seeding at the Budapest World Championship.

"Every athlete nurtures the dream to be world number one in his career. But If I had become number one with a World Championship gold, it would have been better," Bajrang said.

"But I am working hard and will try to retain this world number rank with a World Championship gold next year," he added.

Bajrang is comfortably leading the table and Cuban Alejandro Enrique Vlades Tobier is a distant second with 66 points. Bajrang had won a close semifinal against Tobier in the Budapest Worlds.

Russia's Akhmed Chakaev (62) is in third place and the new world champion Takuto Otoguro (56) is at number four, followed by Turkey's Selahattin Kilicsallayan (50).

Interestingly, Bajrang is the lone male Indian to figure in top-10 but the country has five female wrestlers who are in top-10 bracket in their respective categories.

Pooja Dhanda, who became only the fourth Indian woman to win a World Championship medal, is now ranked sixth in the women's 57kg with 52 points. She had taken a bronze.

Ritu Phogat completes the top-10 in the women's 50kg, with 33 points.

Sarita Mor is ranked seventh in 59kg with 29 points while Navjot Kaur (32) and Kiran (37) are ninth in 68kg and 76kg category respectively.

United World Wrestling rankings

2016

Sep 13 2016: in the men's freestyle category , Sandeep Tomar was placed at 15th position in the UWW (United World Wrestling) rankings.

Sep 13 2016 Bajrang Punia made it to the top-20 list in the UWW (United World Wrestling) rankings.

2019: Deepak world no.1; Bajrang, Vinesh no.2; Seema no. 3

Sep 28, 2019: The Times of India

World Championship silver medallist wrestler Deepak Punia has jumped to world number one position in 86kg but Bajrang Punia lost the top rank in the 65kg category in the latest rankings issued by the international federation (UWW). Competing in his maiden senior World Championship, Deepak settled for a silver after an ankle injury forced him to pull out of the final against Iranian great Hasan Yazdani.

The 20-year-old now has 82 points, four more than World Champion Yazdani.

Meanwhile, in women’s rankings, Vinesh Phogat, who also won a bronze in Nur Sultan along with Tokyo Olympic quota, has jumped to number two in 53kg category, gaining four places after her stupendous show last week. In 50kg, Seema Bisla has dropped a rung to No. 3.

This year, Deepak had won a silver Yasar Dogu and bronze medals at Asian Championship and at Sassari tournaments. He has been rewarded for his consistent show.

However, Bajrang, who went into the World Championship as world No. 1 , dropped to No. 2 spot after managing a bronze. PTI

Wrestling Federation of India’s Grade system

2018: Sushil, Sakshi, Geeta-Babita Phogat miss Grade A

Sabi Hussain, Sushil not in WFI’s top pay grade, November 20, 2018: The Times of India

Performance comes before reputation. Twotime Olympic medallist Sushil Kumar, Rio Games bronze winner Sakshi Malik, and the famous Phogat sisters, Geeta and Babita, are learning this lesson a hard way.

In a clear signal to Sushil and Sakshi that it’s time for them to either step up their performance at future international meets or leave the wrestling scene, the country’s two celebrated wrestlers have been put in ‘Grade B’ of the soon-to-be-introduced central contract system for grapplers by the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) and its commercial arm, Sporty Solutionz.

The snub has come soon after the Sports Authority of India’s decision to drop the names of Sushil and the two Phogat sisters from the government-funded Target Olympic Podium (TOP) scheme while putting Sakshi on notice until the 2019 Asian Championships.

TOI has reliably learnt that the categorisation of grades has been done in five segments for seniors, which include slabs of Rs 30 lakh, Rs 20 lakh, Rs 15 lakh, Rs 10 lakh and Rs 5 lakh. It’s been done based on a wrestler’s recent form and his/her future medal chances.

The top bracket of Rs 30 lakh is for elite wrestlers and Sushil and Sakshi haven’t found a mention in it, owing to their below-par performances since the Rio Games. Geeta and Babita haven’t been offered central contracts, officials involved with the development informed.

“Sushil and Sakshi have been accommodated in Grade B of Rs 20 lakh. Their performance chart has shown a rapid declive. Sushil is nowhere close to his former self, while Sakshi hasn’t been able to replicate her Rio Olympics form,” an official said.

“Only Bajrang Punia, Vinesh Phogat and Pooja Dhanda have been offered Grade A contract. Similarly, upcoming wrestlers like Ritu Phogat and Ravi Kumar, among others, have been put in Grade B, while Grade C, D and E form the other group of wrestlers,” added the official.

TOI understands that Sushil and Sakshi haven’t been informed about their grades and WFI president Brij Bhushan Singh will talk to them separately on the sidelines of the senior Nationals in Gonda (UP) from November 29 to December 2.

Senior National Championships

2019: Gurpreet, Sunil win national gold

Jalandhar:

Living up to their favourites tag, Asian Championship silver medallists Gurpreet Singh and Sunil Kumar clinched gold medals as the senior national wrestling championships concluded with competition in Greco Roman style.

Punjab’s Gurpreet overcame two-time junior world championships medallist Sajan Bhanwal, representing Services, 3-1 in the 77kg category, to lift his fourth national title. Sunil also managed an easy win over Punjab’s Prabhal.

The Railway’s grappler used all his experience to crush the Punjab wrestler 5-1 in the 87kg final. In the 55kg category, Arjun, representing Services, won against Ajay by technical superiority. Railways finished on the top with 210 points ahead of Services (170 points) and Jharkhand (109 points)

Spain Grand Prix

2019: Vinesh, Divya win gold, Pooja silver

Vinesh and Divya win gold, Pooja settles for silver at Grand Prix of Spain

Madrid: India's top wrestler Vinesh Phogat won her first gold medal after shifting to 53kg category while Divya Kakran claimed the top honours in the 68kg category here at the Grand Prix of Spain. In the eight-wrestler 53kg draw, Vinesh comfortably beat Peru's Justina Benites and Russia's Nina Minkenova before getting the better of Dutch rival Jessica Blaszka in the final. Also standing atop the podium was Asian Games bronze medallist Divya. She blanked Poland's Agnieszka Wieszczek-Kordus in the final. World Championship bronze medallist Pooja Dhanda (57kg) had to be content with a silver after losing to Russia's Veronika Chumikova. Also winning silver medals were Seema (50kg), Manju Kumari (59kg) and Kiran (76kg).

Under-15 Asian Wrestling Championships

2019: India win 5 more gold in U-15 wrestling

New Delhi: India’s superb show continued on the last day of the Under-15 Asian Wrestling Championships in Taichung, China as they added five gold medals as well as five silver medals to finish their campaign on a high with a rich haul of 28 medals, that includes 13 gold, 14 silver and 1 bronze. Deepak Chahal won the gold in 75kg, while Haryana’s Vishal (62kg), Sonipat’s Sagar Jaglan (68kg) and Madhya Pradesh’s Jatin (85kg) were the others who finished on the top podium.

Under-23 National Championship

2018: Haryana wins 7/ 10 golds

October 1, 2018: The Times of India

Women grapplers from Haryana dominated day 2 of the inaugural Under-23 National Wrestling Championship, as they grabbed seven out of a possible 10 gold medals on offer in Chittorgarh on Saturday. Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Chandigarh also won a medal each as all 10 women grapplers booked their tickets to Bucharest for the Under-23 World Championships starting November 12. Haryana also finished on top of the points table.

U20 World Wrestling Championships

2023

A

August 17, 2023: The Times of India

Amman : Wrestler Mohit Kumar created history after winning the U20 World Wrestling Championships, defeating Eldar Akhmadudinov 9-8 in 61-kg freestyle event in Jordan. 
 With this, he has become the fourth Indian Freestyle Wrestler to win a Junior World Championship.


Apart from Mohit Kumar, Sagar Jaglan also claimed a silver medal in FS 79kg category while Deepak Chahal won a bronze medal FS 97kg category on Day second of the event. Mohit is the fourth male wrestler from India to earn a gold medal in the U20 World Championships, following Palwinder Cheema (2001), Ramesh Kumar (2001), and Deepak Punia (2019).


Antim Panghal, who won a gold medal at the previous edition, is the only woman to have done so. So far, India has won a total of four medals with one gold, two silver, and one bronze medal.


The Indian men’s freestyle team has so far won five medals. Sagar Jaglan (79kg) had won a silver, while Deepak Chahal (97kg) and Sagar (57kg) had won bronze.

Rajat Ruhal will be in contention to win a bronze in 125kg. He is up against Karanveer Singh Mahil from Canada.


Meanwhile, in the women’s competition, Priya reached the 76kg final with a commanding technical superiority win over American Kennedy Alexis Blades in the semifinals. 


AGENCIES

B: Priya wins gold despite injury

August 18, 2023: The Times of India

Amman : Priya became only the second Indian woman wrestler to become U20 world champion while fast-rising Antim Panghal also stormed into the title clash as unprecedented success followed India at the junior wrestling World Championships.

Unperturbed by the cut suffered above her left eye, Priya easily got the better of Germany’s Laura Celive Kuehn 5-0 in the gold medal bout, which had to be stopped twice due to bleeding suffered by the Indian. Her lightening fast leg attacks rattled the German who could not make even one point-scoring move.


Antim Panghal had last year become the first Indian woman to emerge junior world champion and she also rejoiced success on Thursday as she is now one win away from defending her title, reaching the 53kg final. Panghal, who hit the headlines for challenging Vinesh Phogat for the Asian Games trials but lost her petition, put up a dominating show to easily win her three bouts.


For the first time ever, four Indian woman wrestlers reached the gold medal bouts at the junior World Championships as Savita (62kg) and Antim Kundu (65kg) also stayed unbeaten. Harshita is also in contention of a bronze in 72kg competition.


Priya had reached the 76kg final on Wednesday and lived up to expectations.


Panghal lost just two points en route the final, annihilating her first round opponent from Poland Nikola Monika Wisniewska in mere 68 seconds and followed that up with technical superiority win over China’s Xuejing Liang. In the semifinals, the wrestler from Hisar district of Haryana outplayed Russia’s Polina Lukina, again winning by technical superiority and not losing a single point.


If Panghal can win on Friday, she will become first woman wrestler to win two world titles. Another Antim was putting the mat on fire in the 65kg competition. She was Antim Kundu from Titoli village in Rohtak District as she too put up a dominating show to secure a place in the gold medal bout.
Using her tremendous power, she overpowered Russia’s Ekaterina Koshkina in the semifinal, winning 7-5.


Before that, the wrestler coached by Kuldeep Kadian, beat Romania’s Maria Magdalena Pantiru 7-2 and pinned Poland’s Alicja Nowosad.


In the 62kg category, U17 World Champion Savita produced inspiring stuff, winning all three bouts ‘by fall’, including one against formidable Japanese Suzu Sasaki. She had began with an easy win over Serbia’s Dunja Lukic.


In the semifinal, she pinned French rival Iris Mathilde Thiebaux.


Harshita also reached the 72kg semifinals but got pinned by Turkey’s Bukrenaz Sert and will now fight for bronze.
Reena was the only Indian wrestler who lost early in the competition. Competing in the 57kg category, she lost her opening round to Ukraine’s Alina Filipovych. She will get a chance to reach the medal round through the repechage route as Alina has reached the final.


PTI

C: Women win team championship; India wins two more gold

Sabi Hussain, August 19, 2023: The Times of India

Vinesh Phogat’s heir apparent, Antim Panghal, created history by becoming the first Indian woman wrestler to win back-to-back junior world championship titles after securing a dominant 4-0 victory over Ukraine’s Mariia Yefremova in the 53kg division showdown in Amman.


Later, Savita too rose above expectations and secured a gold in the 62kg category as the Indian women’s contingent won the team title at the junior Worlds for the first time in history. Priya Malik had crowned herself world champion in the 76kg class. The dominant show by the country’s women wrestlers was evident from the fact that seven of them finished on the podium. Apart from the trio of Antim, Savita and Priya, one silver came through Antim Kundu (65kg) and three bronze from Reena (57kg), Arju (68kg) and Harshita (72kg).


Panghal, who had recently moved the Supreme Court challenging the direct entry provided to Vinesh for the Asian Games in Hangzhou, was unstoppable during the final and relied on her power ful leg attacks to thwart any possible challenge thrown by the Ukrainian.


She was quick with her movements and her defence was impeccable. She settled the issue in her favour with a take-down move. Such was her dominance during the entire tournament that she conceded only two pointsen route to her top of the podium finish.


The wrestler from Haryana’s Hisar had etched her name in history books after crowning herself the World U20 champion with a win over Kazakhstan’s Atlyn Shagayeva in Sofia in August last year.
 Antim’s act had ensured that India achieved its best-ever performance at the junior women’s Worlds with three gold, bettering its medal tally of two yellow metal clinched at the 2001 edition.
 In the 62kg final, Savita showcased her technical superiority with a dominant win over Venezuela’s Paola Montero Chirinos. Savita started the proceedings with a takedown move and kept swelling her lead with leg attacks.


Kundu looked clueless against local favourite Eniko Elekes and lost 2-9 in her 65kg bout. Another Indian wrestler, Reena settled for bronze with a 9-4 win over Kazakhstan’s Shugyla Omirbek in the 57kg category. She led 5-0 in the first period of three minutes and later consolidated her lead in the second and final half to finish on the podium.


Harshita brought the curtains down on India’s campaign with a ‘win by fall’ verdict against Moldovan rival Emilia Creciun to ensure the country’s best-ever medal haul at the event.
However, the country’s greco-roman wrestlers disappointed big time after five of them faltered at the quarterfinal hurdle. Anil Mor, Sandeep, Deepak Punia, Mohit Khokhar and Parvesh showed promise early on but failed to r each the medal rounds.

D: The gold medallists

August 23, 2023: The Times of India

With inputs from Mukesh Kumar

Antim Panghal doesn’t give up easily. Recently, the 19-year-old raised her voice when Vinesh Phogat was directly given an Asian Games ticket by the ad hoc committee looking after the day-to-day affairs of Wrestling Federation of India. Antim and her family protested outside the office of the Indian Olympic Association and filed a petition in the Delhi High Court against Vinesh’s direct entry. She returned disappointed from the court, but luck favoured her as Vinesh withdrew from the Asiad due to injuries. Antim, being the reserve after having won the trials in the 53kg weight category, has been given the chance to represent the country.


Antim celebrated her Asiad entry with a gold at the 2023 U-20 world championships. It was back-to-back gold for the young wrestler, who had bagged the top position in the 2022 edition as well. There was steel and determination in Antim’s performance this time. She fought with such ferocity and authority that she conceded just two points in the entire tournament.


She hails from Bhagana village in Hisar, Haryana, and is the fourth daughter of Ram Niwas and Krishna Kumari. But why would anyone call their daughter Antim, which means ‘final’? “We are five siblings – four sisters and a brother,” Antim said. “I am the fourth daughter; my brother is the youngest. My parents named me Antim because they didn’t want any more female children. It’s a village custom that they followed. Luckily, my brother was born next. ”


Although her naming had a deep sense of patriarchy behind it, Antim kept proving her detractors wrong with her performances. Her father, a farmer, supported Antim’s wrestling pursuits wholeheartedly.

“Wrestling is in my blood. My father also participated in local dangals. Initially, there was some roka-toki (interference) from my mother and relatives over my presence in the wrestling pit, but my father was always with me,” she said.

Father Ram Niwas was effusive in his daughter’s praise. “From the very beginning, Antim has been a topper in the game. Stopping her (from wrestling) would have been paap (wrongful). According to me, parents should allow their girls to participate in wrestling,” he says.

Her mother Krishna Devi recalled that everyone was upset when Antim was born. “Everyone said it is God’s will. But after her birth, everything went well for the family. We purchased a tractor and a car. We now sold the car to fund Antim’s practice, but she has brought laurels to the country,” Krishna Devi said.

Grandfather Inspired Priya

Priya Malik may be soft-spoken and demure, but she is a beast on the mat. In Amman, Priya improved on the silver she had won at the 2022 U-20 world championships. The 18-year-old dominated her German opponent throughout the bout.

Priya comes from the same village (Nidani in Jind, Haryana) as 2022 Common- wealth Games silver medallist Anshu Malik. Both have been trained by coach Jagdish Sheoran. It comes as no surprise that Priya looks up to Anshu. “I saw Anshu didi train at the Nidani Sports School. I liked how she went about her daily routine… that made me decide to pursue wrestling professionally,” says Priya.

But the initial push came from her “dadda” (grandfather) Prithvi Singh. “My father (Jai Bhagwan Malik) and uncle (Rakesh Malik) were also wrestlers. My father was a havildar in the Indian Army and represented the Services team at the national level, while my uncle went on to become a coach. But it was my grandfather who initiated me into the sport,” she said.

“Unfortunately, he passed away in 2020 due to a heart attack. I wish he could’ve seen me finish on top of an international event just once. I won my first international medal in 2021 – a gold at the Cadet World Championships in Budapest, Hungary. But by that time, he had already left us. ”

Father Jai Bhagwan had different plans for Priya, but eventually gave in. “Priya was and still is very good at studies. So, initially, I wanted her to focus on her studies. My father wanted her to take up wrestling. She got into the sport out of Baba’s desire,” he said. Priya began winning medals the very year (2017) she started her training. There was no looking back after that.

Savita Outperformed Boys

Rohtak’s Sir Chhotu Ram Stadium wrestling academy is a cradle for several aspiring wrestlers – both boys and girls – from the district and surrounding areas. One of the biggest names in Indian wrestling, Sakshi Malik, a bronze medallist at the 2016 Rio Olympics, also trained at this academy. In fact, at present there are more female wrestlers training at the academy than males. Savita Dalal, who won a gold at the U-20 world championships, is a product of this wrestling academy. Originally from Balana vil- lage, 36 km away from Rohtak, Savita was brought to the academy by her uncle Krishan Kumar in 2017. They stay at a rented accommodation in Rohtak town and go for training at the academy under coach Mandeep Saini.

Krishan Kumar has three sons. On the mat, his niece often outperforms his sons. “She (Savita) is like my own daughter. I take pride when she gets the better of my sons. When she wins medals at international competitions, it gives me a sense of satisfaction that our sacrifices have not gone waste,” said Krishan.

Savita’s father Sunil Kumar is a small-time farmer. He earns just enough from his produce to keep the family going. “My grandfather was a pehelwan, and pehelwaani runs in my blood. I must live up to his name,” says Savita. Her uncle, whom Savita calls “papa”, was also a wrestler during his younger days but some “personal issues” cut short his wrestling career. “Savita is very determined. She will keep the family flag flying,” Krishan said.

U-23 World Wrestling Championships

2018: Ravi wins silver

Ravi Kumar faltered in the final of the 57 kg category in the 2018 Under-23 World Men’s Freestyle Championships at Bucharest (Romania), settling for a silver medal on Saturday night. Ravi was the lone Indian to make the grade but lost in the final to Japan’s Toshihiro Hasegawa, a 2013 Cadet World bronze medallist, unable to last the full course bout. The Japanese, who won by fall, led 4-0 in the first period was not only strong but was tactically good.

2019

Ravinder enters semi-finals

Ravinder enters semis of U-23 World Wrestling

Budapest:

Ravinder emerged as the shining star for India on the second day of the UWW U-23 World Championships after securing his place in the semi-finals of 61kg category. The 22-year-old put up a commanding display to notch up a 12-1 win over Hungary’s Marcell Budai Kovacs in his opening bout.

The Jhajjar grappler then continued his heroics against 2019 Russian National Freestyle Wrestling Championships bronze medallist Dinislam Takhtarov and completed an 11-0 win to storm into the last-four round. Ravinder is aiming for his first medal from the championship after losing in the semi-finals in 2017. Earlier in the day, Naveen lost his repechage bout in the 70kg category against Mongolia’s Temuulen Enkhtuya, who beat him 8-6.

But the biggest disappointment of the day for the Indian squad was Viky in 92kg. Having won the silver at the Senior Asian Wrestling Championships and a bronze at the Junior World Championships this year, a lot was expected of him but he crashed out in the opening round, losing to Switzerland’s Samuel Scherrer 7-1.

In 74kg, Gaurav Baliyan made a fantastic start against Oleksandr Vyshniak of Ukraine in the qualifiers, whom he blanked 11-0. His challenge, however, came to an end at the hands of Russia’s Razambek Zhamalov. Sanjeet then could not get past Russia’s Azamat Zakuev, falling 0-6 in the qualifying bout in 86kg.

Aryan Pratap fought hard in 125kg but was eventually shown the door in a 3-4 loss to top seed Hovhannes Maghakyan of Armenia. Veer Dev Gulia, however, secured his place in the bronze medal contest in 79kg. Gulia was in top form as he defeated Hungary’s Botond Lukacs 3-1. With a strong 7-2 win over China’s Ligan Chai, he made it to the quarter-finals, where he was highly impressive in his 12-1 demolition of Mongolia’s Batzul Damjin.

In the semi-finals, the 22-yearold’s brilliant run came to an end at the hands of Azerbaijan’s Abubakr Abakarov, who emerged an 8-1 winner. Gulia will now aim for the bronze late tonight. On the first day of the championships, three Indians had made it to the quarter-finals with the others being Sharvan (65kg) and Akash Antil (97kg), besides Gulia. PTI

Pooja Gehlot enters final

Nov 1, 2019: The Times of India

Indian women grappler Pooja Gehlot (53kg) entered the finals after beating Turkey’s Zeynep Yetgil in the semifinals of the UWW Under-23 World Championships.

Pooja fought her way from a 2-4 deficit to win 8-4 against Yetgil, a gold medallist at the Junior European Wrestling Championships in 2018.

In the summit clash on Friday, Pooja will be up against Haruno Okuno of Japan. No Indian has ever won a gold in the last three editions of the UWW Under-23 World Championships. Ravinder had settled for a silver medal on Wednesday after going down to Kyrgyzstan's Ulukbek Zholdoshbekov in the 61kg final. PTI

Pooja wins silver

Nov 2, 2019: The Times of India

Pooja Gehlot (53kg) won India’s second silver medal in the UWW Under-23 World Championships 2019 in Budapest, Hungary on Friday after going down 0-2 to Japan’s 2017 world champion Haruna Okuno. Gehlot emulated freestyle expert Ravinder’s (61kg) feat who also won a silver medal.

Meanwhile, three-time World Junior Wrestling Championships medallist Sajan Bhanwal (77kg) lost a close semifinal bout (4-5) to Japan’s Kodai Sakuraba. He will now fight for bronze.

Bhanwal had earlier blanked Jesse Alexander Porter 6-0 in the qualifiers to move into the pre-quarterfinals, where he notched up a 3-1 win over Azerbaijan’s Tunjay Vazirzade. Bhanwal, one of the best Greco-Roman talent to have emerged from India, then rushed into the semifinals on the back of a strong 6-2 win over Per Albin Olofsson of Sweden.

Arjun Halakurki entered repechage even after his good run in 55kg came to an end in the quarterfinals when he narrowly went down 12-14 to Emin Narimanovitch Sefershaev of Russia. But with the Russian making it to the summit showdown, Halakurki has got another chance. Sunil Kumar (87kg) advanced to the pre-quarterfinals after his 7-2 victory over Algeria’s Sid Azara.

Bhanwal misses bronze; Ravi enters repechage

Budapest:

Three-time medallist Sajan Bhanwal (77kg) missed out on a bronze in Greco-Roman category but Ravi (97kg) reached the repechage round at the U-23 Wrestling World Championships. Turkey's Serkan Akkoyun proved too strong for Bhanwal and won 10-1 by superiority in the bronze medal contest. Ravi was blanked 8-0 by Georgian Giorgi Melia in the prequarterfinals but with the latter making it to the final, the Indian was presented with another chance to fight for a medal. Arjun Halakurki lost his 55kg repechage bout 2-10 to Norayr Hakhoyan of Armenia. In 87kg, Sunil Kumar’s hopes were dashed in the second repechage bout when Croatia's Ivan Huklek beat him 6-3. PTI

Indian men finish 11th (best ever), women 12th/15th

Nov 5, 2019: The Times of India

Ravi Rathi (97kg) suffered a 0-8 loss against Belarus’ Dzmitry Kaminski in the bronze medal play-off in Greco-Roman category as Indian grapplers ended their campaign with two silver medals at the UWW Under-23 World Championships.

With this, India’s campaign at the tournament came to an end with Ravinder (61kg) and Pooja Gehlot (53kg) returning with silver medals. India earned its best position in men’s freestyle team rankings, where 48 points gave the contingent an 11th place finish.

In women’s wrestling, India finished at 12th and 15th spots in freestyle and Greco-Roman respectively. PTI

Ravinder wins silver

Oct 31, 2019: The Times of India

Ravinder settled for a silver medal after going down to Kyrgyzstan’s Ulukbek Zholdoshbekov in the 61kg final at the Under-23 World Wrestling Championship.

The 22-year-old Indian suffered a 3-5 loss to Ulukbek, the current Asian U23 champion in 61kg.

Despite the loss, it was a creditable performance from Ravinder, who had won gold at the South Asian Games in 2016 and also a bronze at the Cadet Asian Championships in 2014.

This was India’s fifth silver at the Championships. Bajrang Punia (65kg), Vinod Kumar (70kg) and women wrestler Ritu Phogat (48kg) had won a silver each in the first edition in Poland.

Last year, Ravi Dhaiya (57kg) was the only Indian wrestler to return with a medal when he claimed a silver in Bucharest, Romania. Ravinder had his chances in the final but he couldn’t outwit Ulukbek, a bronze winner at the Senior Asian Championships in 2018.

Earlier, the 22-year-old Indian had pinned senior European champion Arsen Harutyunan of Armenia to storm into the final with a 4-3 win.

Ravinder had notched up a 12-1 win over Hungary’s Marcell Budai Kovacs in his opening bout and then followed it up with an 11-0 demolition of Russia’s Dinislam Takhtarov in the quarter-finals.

Among other Indians, Jyoti stormed into the semi-finals on Wednesday with a 12-1 win over Moldova’s Maria Leorda in the women’s 50kg bout. The youngster made it to the quarters with a 6-1win over Belarus’ Tatsiana Yafremenka.

Standing between Jyoti and a berth in the final is Japan’s Kika Kagata. Jyoti is aiming to be the second Indian to reach the final of this prestigious completion this year, following men’s freestyle expert Ravinder who will compete in the summit showdown of 61kg. While Jyoti dazzled on the mat, the rest of the women failed to emulate her. PTI

2022: Sajan wins medal

PTI, Oct 19, 2022: The Times of India

PONTEVEDRA: Sajan Bhanwala became the first Indian Greco Roman wrestler to win a medal at the Under-23 World Championship when he edged past Ukraine's Dmytro Vasetskyi on 'criteria' to emerge winner in the bronze play-off, here.

It was the Ukrainian who pulled off a four-pointer on the edge of the circle for a solid start but Bhanwala bounced back immediately with a strong move that got him into a position from where he could pin his rival.

Though he could not pin his rival, it was good enough to earn four points.

Bhanwala lost two more points and got into defensive mode.

For staying passive, Bhanwala put on 'Par Terre' position, something Indian wrestlers are very poor at defending and the Ukrainian pulled off another four-pointer from the ground position for a handsome 10-4 lead.

Bhanwala scored two points with a take-down move and with 35 seconds left in the bout, managed to push his rival on the back to level the scores.

The bout ended at 10-10 but since the Indian had scored the last point he was declared winner on criteria.

Bhanwala had begun with a 3-0 win over Lithuania's Aistis Liaugminas but lost his pre-quarterfinal bout to Moldova's Alexandrin Gutu.

As Gutu made the final, Bhanwala bounced back into medal contention via the repechage route and he made full use of that with a 9-6 win over Kazakhstan's Rassul Zhunis.

Meanwhile, Vikas will fight for a bronze in the 72kg after losing his semifinal by technical superiority to Croatia's Pavel Puklavec. He will be up against the winner of repechage contest between Georgios Theodoros Sotiriadis and Japan's Daigo Kobayashi.

Before losing his semifinal clash, Vikas beat Kyrgyzstan's Adilkhan Nurlanbekov and home team rival Marcos Sanchez Silva Mejias by technical superiority, losing just one point across bouts.

In the 60kg category, Sumit got back to medal reckoning when he made the repechage round. He will be up against Kazakhastan's Olzhas Sultan.

In the 67kg competition, Ashu had bowed out after losing his qualification bout by technical superiority to Georgia's Diego Chkhikvadze.

Six Greco Roman wrestlers travelled to the Spanish city for the championship along with two women and one free style wrestler while visas of 21 other Indians were rejected by the Embassy of Spain.

World Cadet Wrestling Championship

2021: Aman, Sagar are champions

Aman, Sagar new World Cadet champions

Budapest: Young wrestlers Aman Gulia and Sagar Jaglan on Tuesday emerged the new world champions in their respective categories as India dished out an impressive show on the second day of the Cadet World Championship, here. Gulia emerged winner with a convincing 5-2 win over American Luke Joseph Lilledahl in 48kg final while Jaglan blanked James Mockler Rowley 4-0 in the 80kg summit clash.

Tannu wins 43kg title

Wrestler Tannu wins 43kg title in Cadet Worlds: Tannu sealed the crown in a dominant fashion, grabbing the 43kg title without conceding a single point as the country's spectacular run continued at the Cadet World Championship in Budapest. The final initially seemed to be a gripping contest but Tannu soon turned it into a one-sided affair and won it by fall against Belarus’ Valeryia Mikitsich. AGENCIES

Priya Malik gets Gold

July 25, 2021: The Times of India

BUDAPEST (Hungary): India grappler Priya Malik clinched gold at the World Cadet Wrestling Championships.

Malik defeated Kseniya Patapovich 5-0 in the summit clash and as a result, she won a gold medal at the World Cadet Championships in Hungary.

Priya Malik won in the women's 73kg weight category and she has given the country another reason to smile as, on Saturday, weightlifter Mirabai Chanu won a silver medal at the Tokyo Olympics.

Priya Malik had also won the gold medal in the 2019 edition of Khelo India in Pune and she then went on to clinch gold at the 17th School Games held in Delhi.

Earlier Tannu had won the title in the 43kg category.

2024

A

August 23, 2024: The Times of India

Amman : Wrestlers Aditi Kumari, Neha and Pulkit on Thursday became the Under-17 World Champions in their respective categories in the prestigious Cadets event, here. Aditi emerged champion in the 43kg, blanking Maria Louiza Gkika of Greece 7-0.


In the 57kg final, Neha overpowered Japan’s So Tsuitsui as she stood out with her double-leg attacks. In the 65kg final, Pulkit faced Daria Frolova, who is competing as a neutral athlete, and won 6-3. She was leading 5-0 but conceded a pushout point and caution late in the bout that allowed Frolova to gain three points. Frolova made a desperate bid to get the winning move but Pulkit defended well to claim the title. Mansi Lather will meet Hanna Pirskaya in the 73kg final.


In Greco Roman style, Ronak Dahiya and Sainath Pardhi won bronze medals. PTI

B

August 24, 2024: The Times of India

Amman : Extending India’s domination of the women’s event at the Under-17 World Wrestling Championship, Kajal became the fifth wrestler from the country to bag the title in the ongoing edition with her commanding 9-2 win over Ukraine’s Oleksandra Rybak in the 69kg weight category.


However, Shrutika had to be content with a silver after being outwitted by Japan’s Yuu Katsume, who finished the 46kg gold medal bout in mere 40 seconds.


Raj Bala grabbed bronze in 40kg with a 11-5 win over Japan’s Monaka Umekawa, while Muskan outplayed USA’s Isabella Gonzales by technical superiority in the 53kg bronze play-off to add to India’s tally.


Rajnita though lost the women’s 61kg bronze play-off ‘by fall’ to Azerbaijan’s Hiunai Hurbanova. She was the only one to miss out on a medal in an extremely successful edition for Indian women.


Indian women signed off with eight medals, including five gold, one silver and three bronze, from the tournament.
However, India’s men’s freestyle wrestlers could not replicate the success of their women counterparts as none of the five grapplers in action on Friday could make the semifinals.
Out of the five, only two --Harsh and Vevik -managed to win a round. 
PTI

World Championships

1967-2013

1967 New Delhi:

Bishamber Singh (57kg silver)

2009 Denmark:

Ramesh Kumar (74kg bronze)

2010 Moscow:

Sushil Kumar (66kg gold)

2012 Canada:

Geeta Phogat (55kg bronze),

Babita Kumari (51kg bronze)

2013 Budapest:

Amit Kumar (55kg silver),

Bajrang (60kg bronze),

Sandeep Tulsi Yadav (66kg bronze)

2018

Bajrang seeded 3rd

Bajrang seeded 3rd in World Wrestlng October 11, 2018: The Times of India

One of India’s most consistent performers, Bajrang Punia became the first Indian to feature in the top seeds of World Wrestling Championships to be held in Budapest, Hungary from October 20 to 28. He is seeded third in his 65kg weight category of the freestyle event. He is accorded the pride of place with 45 points in the ranking list released by the United World Wrestling, the parent body of wrestling.

Bajrang Punia beats Tobier in semifinal

Bajrang makes final at Worlds, October 22, 2018: The Times of India

Living up to the expectations, star Indian wrestler Bajrang Punia put himself in contention for a historic World Championship gold medal after quelling a spirited challenge from Alejandro Enrique Valdes Tobier in a tense 65kg semifinal. The Commonwealth Games and Asian Games gold medallist ensured himself a second medal at the Worlds, having won a bronze at the 2013 edition. The in-form 24-year-old had come into the event as one of the strong medal contenders and has continued with his redhot form this season.

Celebrated Sushil Kumar is the lone Indian to have won a gold medal at the Worlds, achieving the feat in 2010 in Moscow in the 66kg category.

Bajrang Punia gets silver in final, first Indian to win two medals at Worlds

Bajrang falls short in Worlds final, October 23, 2018: The Times of India

Wrestler Takes Silver After 9-16 Loss To Japanese

Bajrang Punia etched his name in history books but failed to end the country’s eight-year long wait for a gold medal at the World Wrestling Championships. The star grappler from Haryana’s Sonepat lost to Japan’s Takuto Otoguro in the men's freestyle 65kg division final to settle for the silver in Budapest, Hungary on Monday.

In a close bout at the László Papp sports arena, the 24-yearold Bajrang fought his heart out but couldn’t break past the solid defence of his Japanese opponent, who lifted the title with a 16-9 verdict. While it could be argued that Otoguro was guilty of resorting to delaying tactics in both the quarters, for which he was even booed by the capacity crowd, there was no denying the fact that the Japanese was a better wrestler on the day.

However, Bajrang could still feel proud of his achievement as his impressive journey to the final meant he became the first Indian wrestler to win two medals at the Worlds, bettering his bronze-winning effort at the 2013 edition in Budapest.

India still have Sushil Kumar as the lone gold medallist who won the top prize at the 2010 edition in Moscow.

Bajrang also achieved a rare distinction which probably no other Indian sportsperson has managed to attain so far — he has won medals at the three major events in a single year. Before coming to the Worlds, Bajrang had dominated competition at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games and Jakarta Asiad this year.

“It was so near and yet so far,” was how Bajrang reacted, speaking from Budapest. “Having reached the final, I expected to win gold but I will have to be satisfied with a silver medal. I am happy to have bettered my bronze medal effort, achieved five years ago at the same venue,” he added.

In the summit clash, it was the Japanese who opened the account by taking a crucial five-point lead, which included a fourpointer which the Japanese got by holding Bajrang’s left leg and pushing him back quite a distance and then pinning him down.

Rattled by the Japanese’s opening statement, Bajrang, too, went for the leg-lock and got hold of Otoguro’s left leg to get two points. Bajrang further reduced the deficit by garnering two more points to make the scoreline read 5-4 in Otoguro’s favour.

Earlier in the day, both Pankaj Rana (70 kg) and Mausam Khatri (97 kg) bowed out without much to show.

Quarterfinals: Malik advances, Gogane loses

October 21, 2018: The Times of India

Sumit Malik will fight for a bronze at the Wrestling World Championships even as Sonba Tanaji Gogane was outclassed by reigning European champion Rashidov Gadzhimurad in the men's free style quarterfinals here on Saturday. Malik overcame Inkar Yermukambet of Kazakhstan 6-1 in the quarterfinals after beating Japan's Taiki Yamamoto 4-1 in the prequarterfinals of the 125kg category. PTI

Greco Roman wrestlers suffer defeat

October 27, 2018: The Times of India

India’s Greco Roman wrestlers continued to struggle at the World Championship with only Manish managing to clear qualification round on Friday. Manish, competing in the 67kg, won his qualification bout 3-1 against Aleksandrs of Latvia before losing the 1/16 round 0-9 to Japan’s Tsuchika Shimoyamada. Both Gyanender (60kg) and Manjeet (87kg) could not clear the qualification round. While Gyanender lost to Justas Petravicius, Manjeet was defeated by Eerik Aps.

2019

Naveen only Indian Greco-Roman wrestler to reach repechage

Sep 17, 2019: The Times of India

Makes It To 130Kg Repechage In GR, Gurpreet Goes Down

Nur-Sultan (Kazakhstan):

After a dismal couple of days at the World Championships here, Naveen (130kg), on Monday, became the only Indian Greco-Roman wrestler to reach repechage, where he will face Heiki Nabi of Estonia.

He had earlier lost to Pan American Wrestling Championships gold medallist Oscar Pino Hinds by technical superiority in qualifying. The Cuban later went on to reach the final which presented another opportunity to Naveen.

Earlier, Asian Championships silver medallist Gurpreet Singh (77kg) pinned Austria’s Michael Wagner to secure India’s second win at this championships. His run, however, came to an end at the hands of Serbia’s former world champion Viktor Nemes in the Round of 32, where he lost 1-3.

Manish (60kg) also brought delight by recording a 11-3 win over Finland’s Lauri Johannes Maekhonen in his Round of 32 bout. But his joy turned out to be short-lived when he was halted by Moldova’s World No. 3 Victor Ciobanu in the last-16 stage by technical superiority.

Tough draw for Vinesh

Meanwhile, tension was palpable in the Indian camp after the country’s biggest medal hope Vinesh Phogat was pitted against Olympic bronze medallist Sofia Mattsson in the “toughest possible” draw.

Vinesh had recently beaten Sofia, a six-time World Championship medal winner, on way to the Poland Open title-win last month, but facing the formidable Swede in the very first round is a different proposition. The 29-year-old Sofia won the last of her fourth European Championship gold medal in 2016 and the seasoned campaigner will surely be a threat to India’s hopes.

She is ranked five in the world in 55kg, which is a non-Olympic category. If Vinesh, who is ranked sixth in 53kg, manages to get past Sofia, she will likely have to lock horns with World No. 2 (in 55kg), reigning world champion, Mayu Mukaida.

If that hurdle is crossed, World No. 1 and last edition’s silver medallist Sarah Ann Hildebrandt will await the Indian in the quarterfinals. That she is a bit worried could be felt as Vinesh walked into the training area grim-faced. PTI

Vinesh and Seema advance

Sep 18, 2019: The Times of India

Vinesh and Seema keep medal hopes alive

New Delhi:

Vinesh Phogat (53kg) and Seema Bisla (50kg) remained in the hunt for a bronze medal as they reached the repechage round in their respective categories at the UWW World Senior Wrestling Championships in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan.

Asian Games gold medallist Vinesh had earlier begun her quest for a maiden medal from the world event with a thunderous 13-0 win over Rio Olympic bronze medallist Sofia Mattsson of Sweden. Even though it sparked hopes of gold, her next bout against the reigning world champion Mayu Mukaida of Japan proved tough.

The strong Japanese kept the Indian on the backfoot and prevented her from showing her usual aggression, resulting in a 0-7 loss for the Commonwealth Games gold medallist. This was the second consecutive defeat that Vinesh suffered at the hands of Mukaida following the Asian Championships.

However, with Mukaida managing to reach the final, Vinesh was presented with yet another shot at a medal as she will now take on former World Championships bronze medallist Yuliya Khalvadzhy of Ukraine. A win over her, as well as a win over last year’s runner-up Sarah Hildebrandt, will put Vinesh in the bronze medal bout versus Greece’s two-time World Championships medallist Maria Prevolaraki and also fetch her an Olympics qualification. In 50kg, Seema Bisla’s second seeding did not exempt her from facing the three-time Olympic medallist Mariya Stadnik of Azerbaijan in the opening bout. The Yasar Dogu champion came up short 2-9 against Stadnik but with the latter progressing into the summit clash, Seema got another golden chance to sniff at a medal and a 2020 Olympic berth. For Seema to take the bronze, she needs to first overcome Nigeria’s Miesinnei Mercy Genesis, then get the better of Ekaterina Poleshchuk before she can enter the bronze medal contest with China’s Rio Olympic bronze medallist Sun Yanan. IANS

Vinesh wins bronze, historic Olympic quota

Hindol Basu , Sep 19, 2019: The Times of India

“What I missed in Rio, I will definitely take in Tokyo. I feel an Olympic medal is written in my destiny.” This was star Indian woman wrestler Vinesh Phogat’s reaction after she won the bronze medal at the Wrestling World Championships in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan on Wednesday. Vinesh defeated two-time world bronze medallist Maria Prevolaraki of Greece by fall in the bronze medal bout of 53kg freestyle event. The score in the end was 4-1 in favour of Vinesh.

The 25-year-old also became the first Indian wrestler to secure a quota spot for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. She achieved that with an 8-2 win over World No. 1 and last year’s runner-up, Sarah Ann Hildebrandt of USA, in a show of exceptional defence in her second repechage round. She had begun her repechage bouts with a strong 5-0 win over Ukraine’s Yuliya Khalvadzhy. Vinesh also became the first-ever Indian woman wrestler to qualify for the Olympics from the Worlds.

Just 10 months back, Vinesh, in consultation with her personal coach, Hungarian Woller Akos, decided to change her weight category and moved up from 48kg to 53kg category. This move was made to reduce injuries and prolong Vinesh’s career. Of course, this decision was taken keeping in mind the fact that in wrestling, when a grappler moves up, he or she may not be the same force. Vinesh, who was on a gold-medal winning spree before moving up, lost in her first few tournaments. The critics started sharpening their knives and questioned her decision to change her weight category.

Vinesh ignored all that and kept training — with the aim of winning a medal at the Worlds. “This is my first World championship medal. For five years I was trying very hard and then I changed my weight category and now I finally won the medal. I have also clinched Olympic quota for my country. It’s a very, very proud moment for me,” Vinesh told TOI.

Bajrang loses controversial bout

Sabi Hussain , Sep 20, 2019: The Times of India

Bajrang Punia had landed in Nur-Sultan with high hopes of changing the colour of his medal from silver to gold in this edition’s World Championships in Kazakhstan.

The World No. 1 in 65kg category and top seed, Bajrang looked poised to achieve the feat as he defeated Poland’s Krzysztof Bienkowski, Slovakia’s David Habat and North Korea’s Jong Chol Son to enter the semifinals with a dominating show of power and skills.

However, the 26-year-old’s march to the podium was abruptly halted by Kazakhstan’s Daulet Niyazbekov, who defeated the Indian in a rather controversial fashion on Thursday after the two grapplers were locked at 9-9 at the end of the bout.

The Kazakh was declared ‘winner by points’, but for many debating voices, Bajrang should have been declared the winner. As a result of his contentious loss, the reigning CWG and Asian Games champion has been left to fight for a bronze on Friday. The only consolation for the Indian was that he booked his berth in the 65kg category for the Tokyo Olympics.

The Indian wrestling fraternity, led by London Olympic bronze medallist and Bajrang’s mentor, Yogeshwar Dutt, was quick to criticise the refereeing and technical judges of Bajrang-Niyazbekov’s match, accusing the judges of favouring the local boy.

Bajrang’s personal coach, Shako Benitidis, could be seen kicking in the air in frustration after the end of the six-minute bout, even as the wrestler argued with the judges over the points lost. The point of contention remained the four points awarded to Niyazbekov in the first round, which ultimately proved to be decisive as the judges declared the Kazakh winner.

There are three criteria to judge a winner in case there’s a tie. First is the highest points scored in one move, then comes the number of cautions and finally, the last point scored by a wrestler.

Bajrang would have won on the last two counts as the Kazakh was cautioned for passive play while the last two points were scored by the Indian to draw level at 9-9. But it was the four straight points earned by the Niyazbekov in the first half that titled the scales in his favour.

Another performance which deserves praise came from Ravi Dahiya, whose impressive run at the Worlds was halted in the semis by reigning world champion, Russia’s Zavur Uguev, who won 6-4. Ravi, like Bajrang, has secured an Olympic berth in the 57kg category and will now fight for bronze.

Punia, Ravi win bronze

Sabi Hussain, September 21, 2019: The Times of India

Bajrang Punia and Ravi Dahiya lifted the pall of gloom that had descended on the Indian wrestling camp at the ongoing World Championships after the first-round exit of double Olympic medallist Sushil Kumar early on Friday. The two freestyle wrestlers swelled India’s medal tally by bagging a bronze each in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan.

While it was Bajrang’s third medal in the Worlds, Dahiya earned it in his maiden appearance at the global event. Taking the mat first, Bajrang edged past Mongolia’s Tulga Tumur Ochir, the under-23 Asian champion, 8-7 in a nervy play-off match in the 65kg category. In fact, Bajrang was trailing 2-6 before making a sensational comeback in the second round by breaching the leg defence of his opponent.

Dahiya, a silver medallist both at the junior (2015) and under-23 (2018) Worlds, staved off a tough challenge from reigning Asian champion from Iran, Reza Ahmadali Atrinagharchi, before prevailing 6-3 in his 57kg category contest.

Both Bajrang and Dahiya had qualified for the Tokyo Olympics on Thursday after reaching the semifinals before bowing out of gold-silver contention. Bajrang had lost in rather controversial fashion to Kazakhstan’s Daulet Niyazbekov in the semis after equalling the score at 9-9. The Indian wrestling community accused the judges of favouring the home wrestler by not awarding legal points to Bajrang, and not cautioning Niyazbekov during certain stages of the match for passive play.

TOI has learnt that from the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) sources that a formal complaint has been lodged against the referring in Bajrang’s match with the United World Wrestling (UWW).

“I will never forget what they did to me. I was so heartbroken that I did not even want to fight for bronze,” Bajrang told PTI in Nur-Sultan. “The whole world saw what they did. I had worked so hard for the World Championship gold. I appeal to the UWW to do something about it,” he added.

The biggest disappointment came when Sushil lost to Azerbaijan’s Khadzhimurad Gadzhiyev after leading 9-4 in the match. Sushil, who had booked his berth for the Worlds after prevailing over Jitendra in the controversy-marred selection trials in Delhi last month, conceded seven straight points to Gadzhiyev to lose his opening qualification bout 9-11 in the 74kg category.

This was Sushil’s first Worlds appearance in eight years and lasted just six minutes. Like other wrestlers who didn’t qualify from the Worlds, Sushil will have other continental meets to qualify for Tokyo, but he will have to face selection trials at home to play in these qualifiers.

Rahul wins bronze but Olympics doubtful

Tushar Dutt , Sep 23, 2019: The Times of India

When it is about the Olympics, there is hardly any time for complacency.

Rahul Aware must have realised this the hard way.

With a bronze in the 61kg category at the World Championships in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan, the Maharashtra wrestler has a reason or two to celebrate his feat. But the feeling of regret is greater, as his medal has come in the non-Olympic category. Aware defeated USA’s Tyler Lee Graff, the 2017 Pan- America champion, 11-4 in the 61kg playoff.

Rahul, originally a 57k wrester (Olympic category) went to the World Championships in the 61kg as he had put on some extra kilos in the past few months. He had planned to cut down the extra weight after the Worlds. It now seems late.

But with Ravi Kumar Dahiya clinching a bronze and a Tokyo quota in the 57kg category, Rahul’s entry to his original category ahead of the 2020 Games looks blocked.

“He isn’t a 61kg category wrestler. His medal today has come after a very good fight and is a first for any Maharashtra-born wrestler,” his coach and former international wrestler Kaka Pawar told TOI. Narsingh Yadav, who was born in UP, but represented Maharashtra had earlier won bronze at the World Championships in 2015.

“But this wasn’t Rahul’s original plan. He had thought of reducing his weight after the Worlds. May be he assumed Ravi will not win a quota at the Worlds and he (Rahul) will get a chance to win a 57kg quota in the qualifier after the Worlds,” Pawar added. This was Ravi’s maiden participation at the Worlds.

The coach agreed that Rahul’s dream for Tokyo is all but over. “Ravi has already got a quota in 57kg and quota in the next stop, 65kg, has also been secured. So an entry to the Tokyo Games is now very difficult for Rahul,” Pawar said. Bajrang Punia competes in the 65kg category and the World No. 1 has already secured a quota in his category. Rahul has Junior Worlds, Asian and Commonwealth Games medals to his credit.

2021

A

Oct 2, 2021: The Times of India

Indian wrestler Ravinder stunned defending champion Beka Lomtadze before being outclassed by American Daton Duain Fix in the 61kg quarterfinals even as three of his compatriots were eliminated in the qualification rounds of the World Championships.

Ravinder, who won a silver medal in the junior world championship in August, gave a good account of himself in his three bouts and will now be in contention for a bronze medal via repechage route.

Young wrestler Yash Tunir (74kg), national champion Sandeep Mann (86kg) and Anirudh (125kg) could not get past the qualification rounds in their respective categories and made an early exit from the competition. PTI

B

Ravinder outplayed in bronze medal playoff: 

Wrestler Ravinder Dahiya was outwitted by Armenia’s Arsen Harutyunyan in the bronze medal playoff after the Indian got himself into contention with a sensational come-from-behind ‘victory by fall’ in the 61kg repechage round of the World Championship. Following his incredible win against Bulgaria’s Georgi Valentinov Vangelov after trailing 0-8 in the morning session, Ravinder entered the medal round with high expectations but the reigning European champion did not let the Indian repeat his heroic act. Harutyunyan was brilliant with his counters and finished the bout in just 2 minutes and 16 seconds with a technical superiority win. AGENCIES

C

Oct 5, 2021: The Times of India

Indian wrestler Pinki nearly pinned her German rival Nina Hemmer before losing the heart-stopping 55kg semifinal 6-8 to miss out on a historic final at the World Championships even as the country’s men’s freestyle squad drew a blank after Rohit’s defeat in the bronze medal play-off.

In a fast-paced actionpacked semifinal, Pinki trailed 0-4 after Hemmer effected a take-down move and followed that up with a quick gut wrench. Pinki kept looking for her moves and found one from a right leg-attack, pushing the back of the German on the mat for two points.

After the breather, Pinki levelled the score and then took a 6-4 lead but Hemmer refused to throw in the towel and pulled off two more twopointers to emerge winner.

Meanwhile, Ravinder played his heart out in the men’s 65kg bronze play-off but lost to Mongolia's Tulga Ochir. PTI

D

Oct 6, 2021: The Times of India

The young Indian wrestlers, including talented Hanny Kumari, expectedly found the going tough at the World Championship. Competing in the 50kg category, Hanny showed some spark when she began with a 9-2 win over Korea’s Miran Cheon but her challenge in the quarterfinal against Russia’s Nadezhda Sokolova lasted just 35 seconds.

Soklova took a commanding 6-0 lead in the first 15 seconds of the bout, severely denting the confidence of the Indian teenager and finished the bout in no time. In the 53kg, Pooja got a wrestling lesson from Japanese prodigy Akari Fujinami, who is yet to lose a bout in her career.

Pooja did not have to play any Qualification round but lost her pre-quarterfinal by technical superiority. Bhateri failed to get a single point, let alone winning a round, as she lost 0-8 to Russia’s Dinara Kudaeva Salikhova.

Kiran (76kg) began with a 6-0 win against Korea’s Kim Cholee but lost her quarterfinal ‘by fall’ to America’s Adeline Maria Gray..

India hopes now rest on Pinki’s shoulders. She will strive to become the country’s only fifth woman to win a medal at the world championship when she will take the mat in the bronze play-off against America’s Jenna Rose Burkert. PTI

E: Anshu’s historic Worlds final

Sabi Hussain, Oct 7, 2021: The Times of India

Young Anshu Malik (57kg) created history on Wednesday by becoming the first-ever Indian woman wrestler to reach the final of the World Championships. She outclassed Ukrainian junior European champion Solomiia Vynnyk 11-0 on technical superiority in the semifinal in Oslo.

The girl from Nidani in Haryana’s Jind district will now be up against a formidable opponent — 2016 Rio Olympics champion (53kg), USA’s Helen Louise Maroulis. At the Tokyo Games, the American had settled for a bronze in the 57kg. Maroulis is also a two-time world champion. The final bout is scheduled for Thursday evening.

It could have been double delight for the India at the Nye Jordal Amfi arena but Sarita Mor, the reigning Asian champion, lost her semifinal bout against Bulgaria’s Bilyana Zhivkova Duodova on points in the 59kg weight division. Sarita, 25, who had earlier stunned defending champion, Canada’s Linda Morais 8-2, fought valiantly against Duodova in both periods but failed to cross the finishing line.

The Sonepat girl, who was a kabaddi player in her childhood days, will now fight in the bronze playoff.

Anshu, 20, now has the opportunity to rewrite history books as a win against Maroulis can give Indian wrestling only its second world champion, after Sushil Kumar who won a gold in Moscow in 2010.

Bajrang Punia had come close to matching Sushil’s record but lost his finalat the 2018 Worlds to settle for silver.

Previously, only four Indian women wrestlers have managed to secure medals at the Worlds and all of them settled for the bronze – Geeta Phogat (2012), Babita Phogat (2012), Pooja Dhanda (2018) and Vinesh Phogat (2019).

Anshu’s long-serving coach, Jagdish Sheoran, who trains her at the Chaudhary Bharat Singh Memorial Sports School in Nidani, told TOI that her ward has been competing at the Worlds with an elbow injury which she had sustained during the selection trials on August 30. “Anshu has an injury to her left elbow and hasn’t been competing to her full potential in the championships. She suffered the injury in her final bout during the World Championships trials in Delhi and it took Anshu a week to start training again at my academy. We took her to a doctor who advised her complete rest for one week. After that, she worked only on strengthening her legs, giving the elbow the desired rest. “It’s important to keep her injury-free keeping the senior Nationals next month in mind and then the Commonwealth and Asian Games next year,” Sheoran added.

“Against Vynnyk, Anshu fought a well-planned bout and effected intelligent takedowns in both periods. Her technique was good and she attacked brilliantly, while equally focusing on her defense,” Sheoran explained.

Anshu had earlier defeated Kazakhstan’s Nilufar Raimova by technical superiority and later outclassed Mongolia's Davaachimeg Erkhembayar 5-1 in the quarterfinals. Sarita, on the other hand, had created a major upset after defeating Morais in her pre-quarters before staving off a tough challenge against Germany’s Sandra Paruszewski. However, she ran out of steam in the semis against Duodova.

F : Anshu wins silver

Sabi Hussain, Oct 8, 2021: The Times of India

Anshu Malik fought hard, very hard. But the USA’s seasoned mat technician Helen Maroulis brought her big-match experience and strong all-round play to the fore to defeat the young Indian ‘by fall’ (4-1 on points) in the women’s 57kg division final at the World wrestling championships in Oslo, Norway.

Such was the ferocity of two-time world champion Maroulis’ attacking moves in the second period of the final bout that Anshu was left injured and writhing in pain, clutching her right shoulder with tears rolling down her eyes. As Anshu grimaced in pain, she was offered on-court medical attention by the tournament doctors with women’s team’s chief national coach Kuldeep Malik by her ward’s side.

Maroulis, after celebrating her victory briefly with her coaching staff, too, looked visibly worried about her opponent’s injury and sat at a distance on the mat to check on Anshu’s well-being. It couldn’t be confirmed whether Anshu had suffered a right shoulder dislocation after Maroulis snapped the Indian’s outstretched arm with brute force.

At the start of the second period, the 2016 Rio Olympics champion (53kg) Maroulis got hold of Anshu’s left hand and yanked it down to effect a 2-point take down. Later, she pinned Anshu down and locked her opponent in a handhold position. Maroulis, the Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist (57kg), continued with her attack and then finished off the contest with a ‘victory by fall’ (VFO) by pinning Anshu to the mat with both her shoulders fixed on the mat. In the bronze medal playoff match in the women’s 59kg division, reigning Asian champion Sarita Mor defeated Sweden’s Sara Johanna Lindborg 8-2 on points.

2023

A: Antim upstages world champ, loses in SFs

Sep 21, 2023: The Times of India

Belgrade: Antim Panghal shocked reigning champion Olivia Dominique Parrish en route to the World Championship semifinals, but the young grappler's giant-killing run was halted in the last four stage, leaving her fighting for a bronze medal and a Paris Olympic quota place.

Panghal, the 53kg grappler, lost the semifinal bout to world No. 23 Vanesa Kaladzinskaya a Belarusian competing as a neutral athlete --on technical points 5-4. 
But the Indian can still earn an Olympic quota if she wins the bronze-medal match or emerges triumphant in the bout between the losers of the bronze-medal contest. 
 Underlining her growth and a smooth transition from the junior to senior circuit, the two-time U20 champion won the first three bouts of the day to enter the semifinal even as other Indian contenders bit the dust in their respective categories. 
 The two-time U20 champion Panghal slipped to a 0-2 deficit at the start of the bout against USA's Parrish but edged her rival 3-2 in the opening round.

She later outplayed Poland's Roksana Marta Zasina by technical superiority and followed it up with a 9-6 win over Russian Natalia Malysheva, who is competing as a neutral athlete.

Earlier, American Parrish swung into action with a quick take-down move from a right-leg attack. Unperturbed, the 19-year-old Indian began to defend well and foiled two similar attempts, not conceding any more points till the end of first period.

With her strong defense continuing, Panghal did not let Parrish make any attacking move and as a result the A merican was put on clock.

PTI

B: Antim Panghal wins Bronze medal

Sep 22, 2023: The Times of India

Belgrade : Young Indian wrestler Antim Panghal’s superb campaign at the World Championships culminated with a bronze medal, a performance that also earned the country a 53kg quota for the Paris Olympics. The 19-year-old Panghal became only the sixth Indian woman to win a bronze medal at the Worlds with her win over Sweden’s Emma Jonna Denise Malmgren, the two time European champion.


The high-scoring bout ended with a technical superiority win for the Indian, who became the first Indian wrestler --male or female -to lock a quota for the next year’s Games. Panghal raced to a 5-0 lead after beginning with a quick push-out point. Malmgren fought with a take-down move and had the Indian in her grip but somehow the Indian wriggled out. PTI

World U-23 Championship

2017: Historic double-silver

Hindol Basu, Historic double-silver in wrestling, November 28, 2017: The Times of India

Haryana U-23 Grapplers Bajrang & Vinod Do Country Proud In Worlds

With Sushil Kumar and Yogeshwar Dutt’s careers entering the final stretch, the big question is: who will be the flagbearers of Indian men’s wrestling in the coming times? A certain 23-year-old, lithely built man from Khudan village in Jhajjar, Haryana, has put his hands up.

Experts consider Bajrang Punia to be the ‘next big thing’ in Indian men’s freestyle wrestling, and Punia justied that tag on Sunday, winning silver in the 65kg category of the World U-23 Senior Wrestling Championship being held in Bydgoszcz, Poland. There was more joy for India on the day, as another Haryana wrestler, Vinod Omprakash, who hails from Jind, also won silver (in 70kg freestyle category).

Punia and Omprakash created history, as India has won three silver medals in a world championship for the first time. Ritu Phogat had won silver in the women’s 48kg weight class on Saturday. This performance bettered the one silver and two bronze that the country had won in the 2013 World Wrestling Championship in Budapest, Hungary.

While Punia lost his final to Russia’s Nachyn Sergeevitch Kuular by a 6-17 margin, Omprakash came second best to USA’s Richard Lewis 1-3 over the two rounds.

“I am disappointed to have missed out on the gold medal. Everyone remembers the champion,” Punia told TOI from Bydgoszcz, Poland. In the pre-quarters, Punia hammered Panah Ilyasli of Azerbaijan 5-0, before coming out on top against Heydar Yavuz of Turkey 7-5 in the quarterfinals.

The semifinal, against junior world championship bronze medallist Younes Emamichoghaei of Iran, was tough. Emam took a 2-0 lead very early in the contest but the Indian bounced back and brought things on level terms with a couple of takedowns. Going into the final few minutes of the bout, both wrestlers were tied at 4-4. “I moved a lot and played a counter-attacking game in the final few minutes and that paid off,” said Punia. He won by a 9-4 margin.

“I have to work a lot on my stamina if I have to become the champion. I matched the Russian wrestler (in the final) and gave him a tough fight in the first round, but lost steam towards the end and he managed to widen the gap between us,” Punia reflected over his loss in the final.

Punia earlier trained at the Chhatrasal Stadium in Delhi under Dronacharya awardee Ramphal Maan. When Maan moved to Sonipat in 2014, Punia left Chhatrasal and joined Maan. Olympic medallist Yogeshwar Dutt considers Punia to be his protégé and now the 23-year-old trains at Dutt’s wrestling academy in Gohana, Sonipat, still under Maan.

The coach said Punia could have won a medal at the senior Worlds in Paris in August earlier this year, but lost out since the Indian wrestlers “did not get proper diet” in Paris. India did not win a single medal in that championship.

“This time, though, I made sure that Bajrang went to Poland just two days before his match day, not like the Paris Worlds when he went early and did not get the diet he requires. Ek pehelwaan ko uski khuraak bahut zaroori hoti hai (For a wrestler, diet is of utmost importance). I gave him packed homemade food for his entire stay in Poland. The chapatis were augmented with milk in it and we gave him the food that gives him strength. That’s why, he could wrestle with a free mind in Poland,” Maan disclosed.

Omprakash, an employee of the Services, currently trains at the Army Sports Institute in Pune. He received his early training at the Mehar Singh Akhada in Rohtak.

WFI secretary, Vinod Tomar congratulated Punia, Omprakash and Ritu for their achievements. “Some people were hell bent on writing off Indian wrestling. But we have bounced back strongly and made a statement with this kind of performance at a world meet. More young wrestlers are coming up the ranks and I am sure they’ll bring further laurels to the nation,” said Tomar.

Wrestling Federation of India

Issues

De-recognition by UWW

2023, August

Sabi Hussain, August 25, 2023: The Times of India

NEW DELHI: The national anthem will not be played and the tricolour will not go up inside the arena when an Indian wrestler finishes on the podium at the World Championships in Serbia next month. Indian wrestlers will participate there as ‘neutral athletes’ because the United World Wrestling (UWW) – the sport’s global governing body – Thursday suspended the Indian federation (WFI) for its failure to hold elections in the wake of sexual harassment allegations against outgoing chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh.

After its two earlier warnings to conduct elections to the WFI’s new executive council went unheeded, the UWW said it was left with no other choice but to suspend WFI with immediate effect.

Indian wrestlers will compete as ‘neutral athletes’ in Worlds The World Championships is a qualifying event for the 2024 Paris Olympics. Selection trials for the Worlds are scheduled to be held in Patiala August 25 and 26. According to sources, the trials will go ahead as planned and the Indian wrestling contingent for the Worlds will be named in all three categories – men’s and women’s freestyle and greco-roman.

The Indian Olympic Association’s (IOA) two-member ad-hoc committee – formed to run the day-to-day affairs of WFI – delayed holding the elections following litigation by disgruntled member state units of the WFI. With its 45-day deadline to conclude the electoral process running out, the UWW cracked the whip.

IOA’s joint secretary and acting CEO Kalyan Chaubey confirmed having received a mail from the UWW headquarters in Lausanne, informing about the cancellation of WFI’s membership. Indian wrestlers will compete under UWW’s flag at the Belgrade Worlds starting September 16. However, the wrestlers will not face such issues at the Asian Games and can compete under the tricolour as IOA will send the entries to the organisers, not WFI. The same courtesy will not be extended for any international meet where UWW is the organiser.

UWW had twice threatened the IOA’s ad-hoc committee – first in May and later in July – for dishonouring the 45-day deadline to conduct elections. “Failing to do so may lead UWW to suspend the federation, thereby forcing the athletes to compete under a neutral flag,” the world body had warned in May.

WFI was to conduct its elections on May 7 but the ministry declared the process null and void following interference by Brij Bhushan and his coterie of loyalists. Later, the ad-hoc committee appointed a Returning Officer (RO), former Jammu and Kashmir High Court Chief Justice Mahesh Mittal Kumar, who set July 11 as the date for WFI elections. However, the Assam wrestling association moved the Gauhati high court and got a stay on the poll process.

Elections: 2023

Sabi.Hussain, Dec 21, 2023: The Times of India

Brij Bhushan loyalist wins WFI prez election 40-7

New Delhi : Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh’s close aide and business partner Sanjay Singh alias Bablu was elected new president of Wrestling Federation of India (WFI). Most candidates fielded by BBSS’s panel prevailed over the Anita Sheoranled group, securing 13 of the 15 posts contested.


Sanjay, who is vice-president of UP wrestling association and hails from Varanasi, pocketed 40 votes. Sheoran, a former CWG gold medallist wrestler and one of the key witnesses who deposed against BBSS following allegations of sexual harassment levelled by six female grapplers, could manage only seven votes.

Govt suspends newly elected WFI, requests IOA to step in

Sabi Hussain, Dec 25, 2023: The Times of India

Govt suspends newly elected WFI, requests IOA to step in

‘Violated Sports Code; Controlled By Past Officials’

New Delhi : Just three days into its existence, the newly elected Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) – headed by former WFI chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh’s loyalist, Sanjay Singh – was suspended by the sports ministry with immediate effect on Sunday for “flouting provisions of the National Sports Code” and appearing to be in “complete control of past office-bearers”.


The ministry asked Indian Olympic Association to form an ad hoc body to run WFI.


The government’s conciliatory move towards agitating wrestlers follows the shock retirement of Olympic bronze winner Sakshee Malikkh and visuals of Bajrang Punia leaving his Padma Shri medallion on a footpath to protest against Singh’s election.


“The decisions made by the newly elected executive body of WFI demonstrate a blatant disregard for established legal and procedural norms, violating both WFI’s constitution and the National Sports Code,” the sports ministry noted in its suspension order.

Wrestling World Championships

2022

B

Sabi Hussain, Sep 17, 2022: The Times of India

New Delhi : Olympic silver medallist and world No. 2 Ravi Dahiya made a shock exit from the Wrestling World Championships in Belgrade after losing his pre-quarterfinal bout by technical superiority (10-0) to Uzbekistan’s Gulomjon Abdullaev. Dahiya had defeated Abdullaev earlier in the year in the title bout of the Yasar Dogu ranking series in Istanbul. 
Later, The 23-year-old Uzbek lost (13-2) in the quarters to Albania’s Zelimkhan Abakarov to dash Dahiya’s chances of making the repechage round for a shot at the bronze. It would be the first time sincethe Tokyo Games that Dahiya will return empty-handed from a major tournament he had competed in.


Meanwhile, Birmingham CWG champion Naveen Malik went down 1-4 to Kyrgyzstan’s Ernazar Akmataliev in their m en’s freestyle 70kg bronze medal playoff to draw curtains on his campaign. Naveen trailed Akmataliev 1-2 in the first round and, with less than 11 seconds left in the second and final period, the Kyrgyz effected an exposure move to pin Naveen down on the mat for a hardfought win.


Earlier, Naveen, who had won the CWG gold in the 74kg, qualified for the bronze m edal match after defeating Uzbekistan’s Syrbaz Talgat 11-3 in his opening repechage round. His next round opponent, Uzbekistan’s Ilyas Bekbulatov, didn’t take the mat due to an injury, an outcome which took Naveen directly to the playoffagainst Akmatalieve.


Dahiya had skipped the World Championships last year due to fitness issues and lack of preparation time for the selection tri als held ahead of the Oslo event. He had claimed the bronze in his debut Worlds at Nur-Sultan in 2019. Dahiya was coming into the tournament on the back of his successful outi ng at the Birmingham CWG where he had clinched gold in the men’s freestyle 57kg category.


Two other Indians in the fray, Sagar Jaglan (74kg) and Vicky Hooda (92kg), also lost their respective bouts to bow out of gold medal contention. Jaglan scored twin wins over Israel’s Mitchell Finesilver (15-4) and Mexican Diego Sandoval (13-2) to reach the quarters before losing by fall to USA ’s Kyle Dake inside a minute. Hooda, on the other hand, lost a closely-contested qualification round match to Poland’s Radoslaw Marcinkiewicz 4-3.

C: Bajrang Punia, the only Indian to claim four medals

Sep 18, 2022: The Times of India

BELGRADE (Serbia): Ace grappler Bajrang Punia became the only Indian to claim four medals at the World Wrestling Championships by clinching a bronze in the current edition.

Bajrang, who won a bronze in last year's Tokyo Olympics, eked out a close 11-9 win on points over Sebastian C Rivera of Puerto Rico in one of the the bronze medal bouts.

Bajrang, who lost to John Michael Diakomihalis of USA in the quarterfinals, qualified for the bronze medal contest through repechage round where he defeated Vazgen Tevanyan of Armenia 7-6 by points.

It is Bajrang's third bronze at the worlds. The celebrated Indian wrestler had earlier won a bronze in 2013, silver in 2018 and bronze in 2019.

India had fielded a 30-member team for the ongoing World Championships but produced a below-par performance, securing just two medals.

Tokyo Olympics silver medallist Ravi Kumar Dahiya had crashed out early and failed to secure a podium finish.

Besides Bajrang, Vinesh Phogat won her second World Championship bronze medal in the women's 53kg category.

Vinesh had defeated Emma Malmgren of Sweden 8-0 to claim the bronze.

D

Sep 17, 2022: Hindustan Times

Bajrang Punia lost 0-10 to USA's John Diakomihalis via technical superiority in the men's 65kg wrestling category.

Olympic bronze medallist Bajrang Punia (65kg) on Saturday suffered a shock quarterfinals defeat and was out of gold medal contention while Sagar Jaglan will grapple for bronze in the 74kg event at the Wrestling World Championships. Punia's loss came a day after the another shock defeat of Ravi Dahiya in Belgrade. Punia lost 0-10 to USA's John Diakomihalis via technical superiority. However, he still has a slim change of winning a medal in the repechage round if Diakomihalis manages to reach the final.

The Commonwealth games gold medallist was one of India's biggest medal hopes after the defeat of Dahiya in the second round. Diakomihalis led 4-0 over Punia after the first round and then scored one point after another in the second round to eventually win 10-0. The American won with more than a minute remaining on the clock. Earlier, the Indian wrestler had defeated Cuba's Alejandro Enrique Valdes Tobier on points (5-4) in the pre quarterfinals. On the other hand, Indian wrestler Sagar Jaglan defeated Suldkhuu Olonbayar of Mangolia 7-3 in the 74kg wrestling category and will now face Yones Aliakbar Emamichoghaei of Iran in the bronze medal match later in the day.

Vinesh Phogat who scripted history by becoming the first Indian woman to win two World Wrestling Championships medal, remains the only winner from India in this edition of the tournament so far.

2024

2024: No Indian representation feared

Sabi Hussain, Oct 25, 2024: The Times of India

New Delhi : India will not have any representation at the upcoming World wrestling championships in Tirana, Albania. 
The Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) decided against sending the team to the prestigious event citing continued govt interference. The federation also blamed Bajrang Punia, Vinesh Phogat, Sakshee Malikkh and Satyawart Kadian – the prominent faces of the wrestlers’ protest against former WFI chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh – for conspiring to get the national body suspended and putting it in the hands of an administrator. The Worlds is scheduled from Oct 28 to 31.


WFI president Sanjay Singh had recently called off a selection trial on Oct 6 and 7 to pick teams for the World under-23 and World championships in non-Olympic weight categories. However, the Delhi high court ordered that WFI had no jurisdiction to hold trials and that it would only be conducted by an Indian Olympic Association (IOA)-appointed committee.


In a letter to United World Wrestling (UWW) – the sport’s g lobal governing body –Singh alleged that the sports ministry continues to interfere in WFI’s autonomy despite the UWW’s recognition.


“The MYAS had ordered WFI on 24th Dec 2023 to cease and desist from discharging the day to day administration of the federation and had directed the IOA (NOC of India) to make an ad-hoc committee for governance of WFI. The IOA continues to support the WFI and had even dissolved the ad hoc committee on 18th Mar 2024. After that WFI was functioning smoothly... (but) it is the MYAS that is the problem creator because of their letter of 24th Dec 2023 which is being used as a tool to interfere in WFI’s functioning by the wrestlers,” Singh wrote.

Wrestlers get nod for championship after protest

Oct 26, 2024: The Times of India

There was high drama outside the residence of sports minister Mansukh Mandaviya Friday as two-time Asian Championships medallist Manisha, Tunisia UWW Ranking Series’ bronze winner Mansi Ahlawat, 10 other wrestlers and their coaches demanded that the Indian team be sent to the World Wrestling Championships in Albania, reports Sabi Hussain.


Mandaviya allowed the suspended WFI to send the team to Worlds even if there’s a possibility of contempt of court. On Thursday, WFI had pulled the Indian team out of the event citing govt interference.

Yasar Dogu International

2018: 10 medals (7 by women), 2 gold)

July 30, 2018: The Times of India

Bajrang Punia won his second consecutive international gold while Sandeep Tomar had to be content with a silver medal at the Yasar Dogu International as Indian wrestlers returned with 10 medals, including seven by women, from the ranking event in Istanbul, Turkey.

In the women's competition, Pinki was the lone gold medallist in the 55kg category with her 6-3 win over Ukraine’s Olga Shnaider in the final but Olympic bronze medallist Sakshi Malik endured a disappointing result as she failed to reach the medal round in the 62kg category.

Indian women grapplers outperformed the men by winning seven medals. CWG champion Bajrang, who won a gold at the Tbilisi Grand Prix in Gerogia early this month, did not have to break a sweat as his gold medal opponent Andriy Kvyatkovskyy from Ukraine withdrew from the 70kg final due to an injury. In the 61kg final, Sandeep, who was the last Indian to grab a place in Indian men's Asian Games squad, lost 2-8 to Iran's Mohammadbagher Yakhkeshi.

2019: Gold medals for Vinesh

July 15, 2019: The Times of India

Star grappler Vinesh Phogat won her second consecutive gold in 53kg, winning the Yasar Dogu International with a commanding victory over Russia’s Ekaterina Poleshchuk here.

The top Indian woman wrestler, who stood atop the podium at Grand Prix of Spain last week, beat her Russian opponent 9-5 in the final of the UWW ranking series tournament.

Vinesh’s was third gold in the women’s competition for India after Seema (50kg) and Manju (59kg) triumphed in their respective categories. En route the gold medal bout, Vinesh won two of her three bouts by technical superiority.

Divya Kakran (68kg), who won a gold in Madrid, and Pooja Dhanda (57kg), who won a silver, did not reach the medal rounds. While Divya could not clear the qualification round, Pooja lost in the quarterfinals.

Sakshi Malik, who was making a comeback after a minor injury, did not reach the medal rounds.

Sakshi lost her pre-quarterfinal but later got a chance to be in contention for a bronze medal but lost the repechage round by a close margin to Russia’s Uliana Tukurenova. In the men’s freestyle, Rahul Aware (61kg) had clinched his first career Ranking Series title with a tactical 4-1 victory over Munir Aktas of Turkey. Utkarsh Kale had won bronze in the same category. PTI

Zagreb Open Ranking Series

2023

February 2, 2023: The Times of India

ZAGREB (Croatia): India's Aman Sehrawat clinched a bronze medal at the Zagreb Open wrestling championships.

The 17-year-old Aman defeated Zane Raye Rhodes Richards of USA 10-4 on points in the bronze medal contest to finish on the podium of the ranking tournament.

Aliabbas Rzazade of Azerbaijan bagged the gold, beating Yuto Nishiuchi of Japan 2-0 in the final.

The other bronze was won by Beka Bujiashvili of Georgia, who beat Islam Bazarganov of Azerbaijan.

Aman had earlier defeated Roberti Dingashvili of Georgia in the quarterfinals, before losing to Nishiuchi in the semifinals, to qualify for the repechage round as his Japanese opponent went on to reach the final.

2024

Aman wins gold; Indians compete as ‘neutrals’

‘Neutral’ wrestler Aman wins gold

Sabi.Hussain@timesgroup.com


New Delhi : Despite the uncertainty surrounding Indian wrestling, Aman Sehrawat has quietly been going about his business to offer hopes to the country that a medal might be around in the men’s freestyle 57kg category at the Paris Olympics.


Sehrawat, a product of Delhi’s Chhatrasal Stadium and coached by Lalit Kumar, secured a gold medal at the Zagreb Open Ranking Series tournament – the first international competitive outing for Indian wrestlers in 2024.


In Zagreb, Indians have been participating as ‘neutral’ athletes owing to the suspension of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) by United World Wrestling (UWW) for not adhering to the timeline set for elections. The n ewly-elected body of the WFI, headed by president Sanjay Singh, is under suspension for ‘violating the national Sports Code and its own constitution.’ In the ranking series event, the World U-23 Championships gold winner outclassed China’s Wanhao Zou 10-0 in the final bout. Sehrawat was his dominant self and employed his leg attacks and takedowns to perfection to beat Zou by technical superiority.


However, the Indian had to overcome some early jitters during his campaign when the 20-yearold was troubled by higher-ranked Muhammet Karavus of Turkey in the opening round. Sehrawat trailed after a four-point takedown by Karavus within seconds of the start of the bout but rallied to accumulate 10 straight points to move into the next round with a 15-4 v erdict. The Indian – a bronze medallist at the Hangzhou Asian Games – then displayed aggression and immaculate defence to beat American grappler Richards Zane Raye Rhodes 11-0 in the quarters and later Roberti Dingashvili of Georgia by technical superiority in the last-four stage to move into the title bout.
CWG and Asian Games medallist Deepak Punia could not make it to the men’s freestyle 86kg medal round after losing his first bout to Kazakhstan's Azamat Dauletbekov.

Central contracts

2018: the inaugural year’s surprises

Now, wrestlers get central contracts, December 1, 2018: The Times of India

The Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) rolled out the much-awaited central contracts for its wrestlers, becoming the second national sports federation (NSF) after the Indian cricket board (BCCI) to offer such incentive to its registered pool of grapplers. The development is a historic first for any Olympic discipline in the country.

The gradation of grapplers has been done based on their performances at various international events and future medal chances. The contract will come into effect from November 15 and will be reviewed every year.

TOI had exclusively reported in its edition dated October 31 that the WFI has decided to introduce a central contract system for wrestlers.

Greco-Roman wrestling in India

Sandeep's bronze gives hope to ignored Greco-Roman

Ritu Sejwal, TNN | Sep 24, 2013

Greco-Roman is backed by a rich history in the Olympics, being the first style to be introduced in 1896 Athens Olympics. In India, where akharas are the heart of the sport and dangals its soul, Greco-Roman, also referred to as the European style, is yet to cement its place in the country.

Sandeep Tulsi Yadav's bronze medal at Budapest in Sept 2013 was the first in World championship for India in Greco-Roman wrestling.

Gyan Sehrawat, a Greco-Roman chief coach from 1996-2006, feels Yadav's medal will give a boost to this style. "The medal will change the psychology from just participating to winning medals, at least in the Olympics and World championships. Most of the talent in India gets attracted to freestyle. Greco requires upper body strength and flexibility and is more popular worldwide," Sehrawat, who is the chief coach and a sports officer with the Northern Railways, told TOI.

"This style is not practised at any club in India. It was as late as 1986 that a separate Greco team was selected. Till then, the freestyle team would participate in both the styles," he added.

Gyan himself participated as a freestyle grappler in 1982 Asian Games and as a Greco grappler in his next Asian Games in 1986.

"Even now, 99% of the coaches in India are not familiar with Greco techniques. Even the National Sports Institute in Patiala's curriculum for coaches focuses on freestyle. Indian wrestling is to do with mitti and that's why freestyle is more popular," he said. "There is only one tournament in a year dedicated to Greco," he pointed out.

Foreign coaches

Indian wrestling's lone entry at the Sydney Olympics, Gurbinder Singh, holds the system responsible for the style's lack of popularity. "We spend so much money on getting foreign coaches for Greco-Roman but they don't train our wrestlers properly and never tell then their weaknesses. All they do is teach a technique and then say 'you know nothing'. There is no dearth of diet, money and promotion. It's the system which is a problem," Gurbinder, became a DSP with Punjab police, said.

Belarus' Rudnisky was Greco-Roman's first foreign coach. There have been only three foreign coaches - including the current coach Georgia's Emzar Makharadze - since then while freestyle has had more than seven coaches. "It was in 1987, when we got our first foreign coach. It was under him that a separate Greco camp and national meet was organized. There is only one akhara in Faridkot dedicated to Greco-Roman, the ones in Delhi and Haryana practice freestyle," Gurbinder said.

Gurbinder said about Sandeep’s triumph: "The change in rule has favoured the Indians, who are used to 'standing wrestling' due to the weather. Earlier there was more ground style which would benefit the Russians."

2018

‘Goonga Pehelwan’ axed, wrestlers revolt

Sabi Hussain, ‘Goonga Pehelwan’ axed, wrestlers revolt, June 2, 2018: The Times of India

Legendary deaf and mute wrestler Virender Singh, famously known as ‘Goonga Pehelwan’, has been punished for speaking out against the alleged “irregularities” committed by the national federation – All India Sports Council of the Deaf (AISCD).

The celebrated grappler has been dropped from the World Deaf Senior Greco-Roman & Freestyle wrestling championship to be held in Vladimir, Russia from June 11-19, leaving his supporters and the wrestling community stunned.

In solidarity, other participating wrestlers have revolted against the federation and has threatened to boycott the Worlds. Nine of the participating wrestlers have written to the SAI that none of them will go to the Worlds if Virender’s suspension wasn’t revoked and his name included in the team.

Virender may not be a household name, but the Arjuna awardee is revered in the same breath as two-time Olympics medallist Sushil Kumar. Virender has seven international medals – including three gold from the Deaflympics (Olympic Games for deaf athletes) and one gold from the Deaf Worlds.

In the latest case, Virender hasn’t been selected for the Worlds after he alleged that the federation has not paid him and other participating athletes their ‘pocket allowance’ due for the 2017 Samsun Deaflympics.

As a result of his tirade, he was show-caused and later suspended by the federation in March this year. Recently, the sports ministry wrote to the AISCD to revoke Virender’s suspension immediately, but the federation’s interpreter and project officer, Ketan Shah, is insisting that Virender should first ‘apologise’ to the AISCD for making false allegations.

Sushil, Sakshi contracts upgraded/ December

Gaurav Gupta, December 13, 2018: The Times of India

Even though they have been struggling of late, star wrestlers Sushil Kumar and Sakshi Malik had reason to smile for a while. After initially putting them in the ‘B’ category (worth Rs20 lakhs) of its first-ever central contracts, which were announced, the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) upgraded both the Olympic medallists to the ‘A’ category, which makes them eligible to Rs30 lakhs.

As reported by TOI , only Bajrang Punia, Vinesh Phogat and Pooja Dhanda had been initially offered Grade ‘A’ contract when the WFI announced the initial list of contracts, which have been given to 144 wrestlers. This is the first time that athletes in an Olympic sport have been awarded annual contracts by their federation, which has been boosted by the coming on board of Tata Motors as its main sponsor before the Jakarta Asian Games this year.

WFI president Brijbhushan Saran Singh said the executive committee felt that keeping the two in Grade ‘B’ was a mistake.

2019

A summary of the year

Hindol Basu and Rohit Bharadwaj, Dec 29, 2019 The Times of India

GAME, SET, MAT, INDIA

Five medals and four Olympic quota places in the Senior World Wrestling Championship in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan, made it India’s best-ever medal haul from the event. The two Punias – Deepak and the more established Bajrang – came into their own during the year. Deepak’s performance was the biggest takeaway. In August, Deepak became the first Indian wrestler in 18 years to win gold at the Junior World Wrestling Championship. He backed it up with a silver on his debut at the Sr. Worlds. An injury prevented him from taking the mat in the final, but Deepak made it a debut to remember by clinching a quota spot for Tokyo. Bajrang won every tournament he entered till the Worlds. He bagged a bronze in Nur-Sultan along with Oly quota, but more was expected from him. Vinesh Phogat also claimed her first-ever Worlds medal, pocketing the bronze and an Olympic berth. Ravi Dahiya too won bronze and a Tokyo ticket.

2020

Rome ranking

Gurpreet wins his 2nd gold; Bhanwal bronze

January 18, 2020: Hindustan Times

Punjab’s Greco-Roman wrestler Gurpreet Singh covered himself in glory, winning a second World Ranking Series gold medal in Rome.

The 27-year-old scored an 8-5 victory over Turkey’s Burhan Akbudak in the 82kg category final to add to the gold he had won last year in the same weight category in the Italian city of Sassari.

The achievement is all the more significant because India has earned most of its laurels—including Olympic medals—in freestyle.

Singh’s performance also helped India earn 80 points and climb to fourth spot behind Turkey (112 points), USA (95) and Egypt (82).

Earlier, Sunil Kumar had settled for silver in 87kg and Sajan Bhanwal had bagged bronze in 77kg in Greco-Roman.

Singh attributed his success to “adequate homework”. “My strategy was not to concede points in the initial phase of the bout and it paid off,” he said from Rome.

Hosting international events

2023: Sexual harassment allegations: India loses Asian Championship hosting

Sabi Hussain, February 23, 2023: The Times of India

New Delhi : India has lost the hosting rights of the Asian Wrestling Championships, scheduled to be held here from March 28 to April 2. It’s been learnt that the sport’s global governing body – United World Wrestling (UWW) – decided to move the tournament out of India following complaints of sexual harassment against Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief, Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh. UWW has communicated its decision to the sports ministry-appointed oversight committee, headed by legendary boxer M C Mary Kom, sources confirmed. There hasn’t been any official communication from either the oversight committee or the UWW informing the same.


The world body will soon be announcing a new host city for the continental meet where Indian wrestlers will be allowed to participate. It’s been learnt that the six member committee did try to convince the UWW not to move out the championship s from India and even bargained for its postponement. But, the UWW rejected the request after receiving complaints in strict confidentiality from female wrestlers against Singh.

See also

Sakshi Malik

Vinesh Phogat and all other eminent wrestlers