New Delhi Aug 10:- Commonwealth Games has traditionally been a happy hunting ground for the Indian wrestlers. Birmingham 2022 was no exception. India ruled the wrestling mat in a depleted field, getting medals in all 12 weight categories and improving the gold tally from previous edition’s five to six this time.
Bajrang Punia, Deepak Punia, Ravi Dahiya and Naveen finished on top of the podium in the men’s freestyle category, and Vinesh Phogat and Sakshi Malik in the women’s section. India, a wrestling powerhouse among the Commonwealth nations, didn’t face much problem in fending off the challenge from Canadian, Pakistani and Nigerian grapplers.
Post Birmingham, India are ranked second overall behind Canada in the history of CWG wrestling competitions, winning a total of 114 medals, including 49 gold. Canada lead the chart with 69 gold, 48 silver and 30 bronze.
But comparing the CWG performance to that at the World Champion ships and Asian Games, the country’s medal count takes a nosedive. In the history of the Worlds, India has managed to win just 20 medals so far, with two-time Olympic medallist Sushil Kumar being the only Indian wrestler (male or female) to win a gold at the Moscow edition in 2010.
Tokyo Olympic bronze medallist, Bajrang Punia, is the only Indian to win multiple medals at the event – one silver and two bronze. Indian wrestlers’ most successful outing came in 2019 when five of them won medals in a single edition of the championships – Bajrang, Deepak Punia, Ravi Dahiya, Rahul Aware and Vinesh Phogat.
At the Asian Games, India has 59 medals to show overall, including 11 gold. In the previous edition of the Games in Jakarta, India had returned with two gold – Bajrang and Vinesh – and a bronze by Divya Kakran out of the 18 wrestlers who had travelled to the Indonesian capital. India finished sixth on the medals table.
Just to get a perspective on how tough the competition at the Asian Games is, wrestler Yogeshwar Dutt ended Indian wrestling’s 28-year-old gold medal drought at the quadrennial e vent when he secured the top of the podium finish in the men’s 65kg category. Before him, heavyweight (100kg) Kartar Singh was the last to win a wrestling gold for the country at the 1986 Seoul Games. At the CWG, Indians benefit from the absence of wrestling powerhouses Iran, Kyrgyzstan, Azerbaijan, South & North Korea, USA, Russia, Japan, Georgia, Turkey, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Mongolia and Armenia. In the women’s competition too, the wrestlers from Japan, both Koreas and China pose a big threat to the Indian contingent.
“All the multisport events are important for us. Yes, the level of competition at the Asian Games and World Championships is vastly different. There you have competitors from all big wrestling-playing nations. You have to be at your best all the time. Having said that, there’s always a pressure representing your country, be it the CWG or the Asiad. Next month, at the World wrestling championships (in Serbia’s Belgrade), I hope to win the gold,” said Ravi Dahiya, Birmingham CWG gold medallist in men’s 57kg category.
As Dahiya mentioned, the next big challenge for the country’s wrestlers will come at the Serbia Worlds, scheduled from September 10 to 18. At the previous edition of the Worlds in Oslo in October 2021, the Indian wrestlers had returned with just two medals – both in the women’s section – Anshu Malik (57kg) and Sarita Mor (59kg). However, it’s also a fact that six of the seven wrestlers who went to Tokyo had skipped the meet due to different reasons.
“For us, the CWG is an important tournament to prepare for the far bigger battles ahead like the Asiad and the Worlds. India has always been strong in CWG because of the absence of wrestlers from Central Asia, Japan, China, Iran, Korea and others. Next year is important for us. We have back-to-back Asian Games and World championships lined-up. We have to start preparing for that with the upcoming Worlds. I am happy with the performance of my wrestlers,” said India’s chief men’s freestyle coach Vinod Kumar.
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