Social media has changed the way athletes connect to their fans around the world. Today every sportsperson including wrestlers have an account on different social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. But the most used is Instagram. Wrestlers use it to reach out to the supporters and sometimes even share moments from their lives. The most influential amongst all the wrestlers worldwide is Russia’s Abdulrashid Sadulaev.
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It comes as a no surprise given his stature in world wrestling. The ‘Russian Tank’ is considered the best active wrestler. He is the four-time world champ and the 2016 Rio Olympic gold medallist. His achievements are enough to put speak for his wrestling prowess. And so is his followers. Sadualev is the first wrestler in the world to reach the one million mark on Instagram. He has over a million followers until today.
Four Indians have also made it to the top 10. Geeta Phogat amongst Indian’s has the most followers followed by her younger sister Ritu Phogat.
Here are other wrestlers who have the most followers on Instagram:
1) Abdulrashid Sadulaev: The Russian is currently the world number one in 97kg freestyle in UWW rankings. He is the first wrestler to cross the one million mark. He had 1,046,111 followers.
2)Geeta Phogat: She has over seven lakh (717,026) followers, the second-most amongst all the wrestlers. She is the first women wrestler to win a gold for India at Commonwealth Games in 2010. Geeta is also a bronze medallist at 2012 World Championship. Now, married she is the mother of a boy and has expressed her desire to return to the mat again.
3)Jordan Burroughs: The 2012 London Olympic Champion has around six lakh followers (626,634) on Instagram. Burroughs is probably the poster boy of USA wrestling. Therefore, he is in the top three is expected by the fans. He is also a four-time world champion. He is a very influential figure on social media. A devout Christian, Burroughs uses Bible anecdotes to motivate his fans and also encourage them to follow the dream.
4) Hassan Yazdani: The Iranian wrestler is the 2016 Rio Olympic gold medallist. Besides this, he is also the current world champion and 2016 Asian Games gold medallist. Hassan has near to five lakh followers (481,728).
5) Kyle Snyder: If there is any wrestler in 97kg who has the most potential to end Sadulaev’s victory march it is Snyder. The Olympic Champion has two lakh and eighty thousand followers (280,221) currently.
6)Ritu Phogat: Wrestler turned MMA athlete Ritu hails from the legendary Phogat family. But her desire to carve her own identity away from the shadows of her elder sister – Babita and Geeta – made her turn to MMA. But even before switching career, she had proved her mettle on the mat in Junior wrestling competitions.
She is the Junior and Cadet Asian Champion and 2014 Junior Worlds silver medallist. She has a following of two lakh and forty-eight thousand (248,767) fans and is sixth in the list.
7) David Taylor: The 2018 World Champion is seventh in the list. The USA grappler has around two lakh and forty thousand (240,183) followers.
8)Yogeshwar Dutt: He and Sushil Kumar are the pioneers of modern Indian wrestling. It is because of them that young wrestlers in India can dream of winning an Olympic medal. Yogeshwar is the 2012 London Olympic bronze medallist. At the seventh rank, he has 230,355 followers.
9)Sushil Kumar: Even before taking to wrestling kids in India dream of emulating Sushil at the Olympics. Such is his stature in Indian wrestling. He is the two-time Olympic medallist and the first Indian to become the world champion. He has 214,699 followers.
10) Kyle Dake: The two-time world champion is at the tenth spot in this list. He has 201,795 followers.
