CHENNAI: A day before she was scheduled to compete in the 2021 senior nationals, miles away an identical name attracted a lot of unwarranted attention on wrestler Nisha Dahiya. She had recently bagged a bronze medal in the U-23 World Championships held in Belgrade, Serbia from November 1 to 7. Her namesake, also a wrestler, was shot dead along with her brother in Sonepat’s Halalpur village on Wednesday.
Though frazzled initially, Nisha calmed her nerves and denied she was the unfortunate wrestler in a video posted on her social media handle. And that she was fine.
The Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) was quick to respond and posted a video on social media networking sites featuring Nisha and 2016 Rio Olympic bronze medallist Sakshi Malik wherein the former informed about her wellbeing.
“I am fine,” the wrestler representing Railways said and confirmed that nothing happened to her.
Railways coach Pooja admitted that the incident brought some unwanted attention on the wrestler but she is focussed and prepared for the bouts scheduled on the opening day of the senior national championships beginning in Nandini Nagar, Gonda (Uttar Pradesh) on Thursday.
“The confusion has been cleared and she is ready to take on her opponents. The distraction should not have happened especially with the weigh-in and bouts tomorrow (Thursday) but she is well prepared and taking the much-needed rest ahead of the competition,” the coach told this daily.
The U-23 Worlds Medallist Nisha hails from Adiyana village of Panipat while her namesake was from Halalpur village, where the incident took place.
The news of the killings spread like a wildfire with WFI officials and Railways coaches receiving calls to enquire about Nisha. “Nisha will compete in the nationals. She is safe and training with other Railways wrestlers,” Railways coach Kripashankar Patel said.
WFI assistant secretary was also flooded with calls soon after the incident. “I too received a lot of calls following which I enquired about Nisha. The Railways coaches confirmed that Nisha is safe,” Tomar said.