Men grapplers miss an Olympic chance
If the Asian Olympic Games qualifier for wrestling is anything to go by, the men’s team’s failure to secure even a single place in Paris can be termed abysmal. The freestyle wrestlers, who were expected to win at least one or two places, could not even enter the semis barring Aman Sehrawat in the 57 kg category. To add to the woes, two wrestlers—Deepak Punia (86 kg) and Sujeet Kalkal (65 kg)—could not participate because of the unprecedented floods in Dubai, where they were stuck at the airport for more than two days. Despite efforts from the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) officials, including its president Sanjay Singh, the organisers did not let them participate.
The men’s freestyle team has managed to fetch medals from every Olympics—except in Rio, where Sakshi Malik won a bronze for the women’s team—since Sushil Kumar’s bronze in the 2008 Beijing Games. In the last Olympics in Tokyo, where we had as many as seven wrestlers including four women, the men won two medals—a silver by Ravi Dahiya and a bronze by Bajrang Punia. The three men and one of the women had secured their quotas during the Wrestling World Championships in 2019 way before the Asian qualifiers. This time, only Antim Panghal qualified during the Worlds in 2023. This should have served as a warning.
But wrestling was in chaos at the time. The WFI was under suspension; the ad hoc committee formed by the Indian Olympic Association was headed by a wushu official. The Sports Authority was ensuring wrestlers’ training did not suffer. The Target Olympic Podium Scheme was managing its grapplers. But the thing that hurt the most was a lack of exposure. The tussle between the sports ministry and WFI made things worse. The wrestlers used to participate in a host of invitational tournaments, but this time those events dried up. There were no national camps either.
The bright spot is that four women have managed to secure Olympic berths. Vinesh Phogat, who was at the forefront of the protest against former WFI chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, won a quota in 50 kg. Later, Reetika Hooda and Anshu Malik earned their places too. India have one more chance during the world qualifying round in May, where Deepak, a former Worlds medallist, has a bright chance to secure a place. But going by the last few months’ performances, the men’s contingent needs drastic improvement.