Wrestling News: Since the 2016 Rio Olympics, Indian wrestling has gained new heights. The phenomenal rise of Vinesh Phogat and Divya Kakran and putting the likes of Pooja Dhanda and Sakshi Malik in the mix, you get a team packed with talent and power. But the pandemic has now put a halt to their growth. Training individually for over five months now, the women wrestlers see no relief from the ongoing crisis. And the salt on the wound is the uncertainty over the national camp due to COVID concerns.
The Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) had postponed the training camp after wrestlers expressed their apprehension on joining it. While Vinesh had pulled out of the camp due to health concerns, Sakshi and Navjot Kaur were hesitant in travelling to Lucknow which is a COVID hotspot. Women’s wrestling camp is organised at the SAI centre in Lucknow. Kuldeep Singh, women’s wrestling team head coach, believes that although without camp the performance will be affected but they will return to form in no time. “Yes without the camp we are losing out on our gains but once we get together we will return to form quickly”.
Plans for when national camp resumes
With world championships scheduled in December, it seems likely that the camp will resume in October. Kuldeep said, the two-and-a-half-month window ahead of the worlds is enough to get the wrestlers back in the groove. “I will make sure that they return to form quickly even if it takes us to put in more hours than usual. We are ready for the challenge,” he said. The Indian coach has devised a rough plan to make it happen. “In the first week, I will be watching on their fitness levels closely. Once I get an idea of where each wrestler stands, then I will make a separate training schedule for each one”.
He believes that besides wrestlers, it will be a test for coaches too to prove their worth. “For wrestlers, the test would be to get competition ready, but the real test would be ours (coaches). We will be the mind behind their force. It will be our task to get them into top shape as soon as possible and I promise I will do it,” he concluded.
