Pooja Dhanda has once again got back on track to vie her chances for a spot in the Tokyo Olympics-bound Indian team. She has a roadmap planned for it and has moved to Vijaynagar to train for it. The 2018 world medallist said that world championship which is scheduled for December is her first target in the Olympics-build up. “I have now World Championship (rescheduled to December) in mind, clear trials and then qualify for the Olympics. I am glad that the Olympics got postponed, it gave me another shot.”
The 26-year-old is one of the best wrestlers in 57kg in the country but the rise of Anshu Malik from the junior ranks and competitiveness of Sarita Mor has made it a difficult category to come through. Dhanda, however, had no qualms in admitting that she is not overly worried about the challenge. “The 57kg category is the most competitive. All good wrestlers are there but I have competed against them. All I need is to take care of my fitness. I had four back to back injuries last year, so rehabilitation took away a bit of performance”.
Last year was a tough one for the Haryana wrestler who struggled with a shoulder injury. She missed out on the world championships in Nur-Sultan which was the first qualification tournament for the Tokyo Games. The wrestler even missed out on the Asian Championships in February. But the forced break due to covid-19 cames as a silver lining for her.
“The cancellation of the international calendar and shifting of the Tokyo Olympics to 2021 has given me one more chance to stay in the race. The selection process will start again. It will be one big opportunity for me to bounce back,” she said.
However, not shying away from reality, she says, that no competition in an Olympic year has crippled wrestlers. “The mindset is fixed, one-and-a-half month before a competition and the body also responds in a certain manner. When competition is there we can measure our rivals. So not having competition is impacting the game”.
National Camp in September
The Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) has proposed to start the camp in September. It has sent the proposal to the Sports Authority of India (SAI) and is waiting for their nod before informing all the wrestlers. Dhanda believes that it is good that they are restarting the camp as it will give them time to train for the upcoming world championships. “It is good that the camp is starting. We have to learn to live with coronavirus. We will begin training with World Championship in mind,” she said.