Wrestling News: The iconic Chhatrasal Stadium in the national capital has resumed operations but wrestlers are yet to do any contact training in the complex as per the government’s guidelines for the resumption of training. It is a good thing for the likes of Ravi Dahiya and Deepak Punia who will get back to the top form before the Tokyo Olympics. But twin Olympic medallist Sushil Kumar who has also returned to training is not sure whether he will be participating in the tournament or not.
According to the United World Wrestling’s (UWW) the revamped calendar that was released earlier this month, the Wrestling World Championships could be held in December this year in Belgrade, Serbia. “It’s very difficult to say right now. The situation is the same in the country and in the rest of the world. For now, the main priority has to be to stay safe from COVID-19 and the rest we will see later,” Sushil told IANS.
The 37-year-old is one of the wrestlers training at Chhatrasal. “Training has started in accordance with the guidelines of the central and Delhi government. “I will be training alone for a few days,” he added.
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Chhatrasal had shut down its academy in early March, a day after Delhi had reported India’s second death due to coronavirus. Sushil was one of the many wrestlers who stayed in the stadium with no real means to train. “It is impossible to stay fully fit in that situation. But I was doing a few training drills, maintaining at least my basic fitness,” he said.
Sushil’s coach and the wrestling legend Satpal Singh had on Tuesday posted a video of a training session which included Olympic qualifiers Ravi Dahiya and Deepak Punia.
The grapplers were seen doing individual routine while maintaining social distancing. “Contact training hasn’t started yet. For now, it’s only individual and hopefully, we will start contact training in the near future,” said Sushil.
Sushil Kumar is among the Indian wrestlers who have started training at the Chhatrasal Stadium in Delhi.