India is known for producing wrestling greats in freestyle. From Sushil Kumar, Yogeshwar Dutt to Bajrang Punia, the country has time and again given big names to the sport. While it has excelled in Men’s freestyle – four medals at Olympics – India has struggled to produce wrestlers in Greco-Roman style until now. The country has finally got its poster boy in Greco wrestling – Sunil Kumar. He is the most improved Indian wrestlers in last 10 months. And the March rankings is a testament to the claim.
Kumar is the only Indian to round up in the top four at 87kg UWW rankings. He started the year ranked 33rd in the world but leapt a massive 29 spots after winning gold at the Asian Championships and silver at Rome Ranking Series. A medal at the Poland Ranking would take him to No.3 sport, overthrowing Uzbekistan’s Rustam Assakalov.
It would also mean that the Indian grappler will enter the Olympics as a top seed. This would keep strong opponents like Viktor Lorincz of Hungary and Zhan Beleniuk of Ukraine at bay in the early rounds of the competition.
Sunil is currently training solo at the Mehar Singh Akhara, Rohtak and is yet to qualify for the Tokyo Games. If he manages to do so, he will be the biggest hope to win India its first Olympic medal in Greco style.
He is fully focussed to secure an Olympic berth at the Asian Qualifiers which were postponed indefinitely due to Coronavirus outbreak. The grappler believes that Asian Qualifiers will be easier compared to the World Qualifiers as there will be fewer wrestlers competing for the Tokyo ticket.
“The Asian Qualifiers are easier compared to the Worlds Qualifiers. There are more wrestlers in worlds which make the competition tougher,” he said.
Sunil will have to finish in the top two in the 87kg weight class to confirm India a place in the Olympics. United World Wrestling (UWW) is yet to announced the new dates for the qualifiers.
Meanwhile, the International Olympic Committee has declared the new dates for the Tokyo Games. The Summer extravaganza will begin on July 23, while the closing ceremony will be held on August 9.
