Mental mentor behind success of wrestlers at World Championships

It was the first time that the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) sent a motivator with the Indian contingent.
Vickrant Mahajan & Deepak Punia
Vickrant Mahajan & Deepak Punia

CHENNAI: His sprained left ankle in a cast, wrestler Deepak Punia called motivator Vickrant Mahajan from his bed at Mumbai’s Kokilaben Hospital a couple of days ago. The 20-year-old injured his right eye and ankle during his opening match at the World Championships in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan, over a week ago. He won four successive bouts in the 86kg section despite being in pain before withdrawing from the final and settling for silver in his maiden World Championship.

“We know each other for quite some time and Deepak called from the hospital to give me an update on his injury. He is out of action for three weeks. He has withdrawn from the Military World Games scheduled in China from October 18 to 27,” Mahajan told this daily.

The 42-year-old motivator accompanied the India team to the World Championships. His association with Deepak started in May. “He was recovering from a thumb injury when I met him in Sonepat. It has been a successful association ever since, as he not only became junior world champion but also wrestled his way to the final of the senior championships.”

Despite working successfully with the winner of multiple international medals, the Jammu resident believes it was Ravi Dahiya (57kg), who stole the limelight at the recently concluded competition, which also served as Olympic qualifiers. “Ravi might have clinched bronze but given the draw he got, I can say he was the best Indian wrestler.”

Deepak and Ravi also credited Vickrant for their success. “I speak to Vickrant quite often. It’s good to have him around as he makes me feel positive,” Deepak said. Ravi echoed Deepak and said, “His role was big. His positive words helped me in beating fancied opponents on my way to a medal.”

It was the first time that the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) sent a motivator with the Indian contingent. With India clinching five medals and four Olympic quotas, their most successful campaign ever at the event, it can be assumed that the move paid dividends. But Vickrant is not satisfied. “We lack motivation and goal-setting. We need to infuse that positivity to create a squad of super champions. For that, we need to galvanise minds with positivity. Even in defeat, we should be positive because it is not an opportunity lost but a lesson learnt,” opined the motivator.

His stint with the national team is over but Vickrant is yet to hear from the WFI. Not the one to lament about official apathy, he instead wants to focus on the future to ensure that the process started with the Worlds leads to bigger success at the Olympics next year.

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