CHENNAI: The Sports Authority of India’s (SAI) standard operating procedures (SOP) issued for wrestling prohibit grapplers from human sparring of any form. The document, in fact, says that wrestlers should spar with personal dummies with one athlete per mat at a time. The recommendations have been deemed impractical and incapable of producing useful results by wrestling coaches, especially for those who have qualified or trying to qualify for the Olympics.
“We advise beginners to wrestle with dummies to give them an insight into the sport and the moves. Professional wrestlers use dummies, but only to execute moves which are deemed to be dangerous,” a national coach told this daily. “Importantly, when a wrestler executes a move, he/she expects the opponent to counter it by exerting force and employing a technique. This helps the wrestler understand the move, improvise and develop a counter-strategy, which will be missed if they practise with dummies,” opined another national coach.
The Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) in its SOP requested a sparring partner for each national camper. As a precaution, it suggested Covid-19 tests for both the wrestler and his/her sparring partner and also self-isolation for the duo till the results of the tests are out.
“We expect a final call from the SAI on our SOP soon. Holding national camps without sparring partners is difficult. Wrestlers are eager for the camp to resume but practising with dummies will not serve the purpose,” a WFI official told this daily.
One national camp
National camps for male and female wrestlers were held separately before the pandemic up to mid-March. While the women grapplers were training at the SAI Centre in Lucknow, their male counterparts were camping in Sonepat. Given the situation in UP, WFI might shift the Lucknow camp to Sonepat.
WFI has also shortlisted wrestlers in Olympic weight categories for the resumption of the camp in the first phase, making it logistically easier to hold camps in one place. “A final call in this regard will be taken after reviewing the situation and consulting the WFI president,” added the official.