Wrestling News: India was amongst the best performers at the Asian Championships held in New Delhi in February. It had won 20 medals, recording its best performance at the continental meet. Had it not been for the covid-19, Indian wrestlers were amongst the favourites to confirm the Tokyo Olympics quota at the Asian Olympic Qualifiers. But the pandemic played spoilsport on all their preparations. They were forced to stay indoors at train individually to keep themselves fit for whenever things return to normal.
Here are the 20 Asian champion wrestlers and what they are doing now:
Men’s Freestyle:
Ravi Dahiya — Gold
The 57kg weight class freestyle wrestler spent his entire lockdown at Chhatrasal Akhada training. He said that the new atmosphere is relaxing as there are no worries about competitions resuming. He is currently training with Sushil Kumar under Mahabali Satpal’s guidance. Dahiya has already confirmed the Tokyo Olympics quota.
Rahul Aware — Bronze
Aware is currently undergoing police training in Pune. The Maharashtra wrestler won bronze at the 2019 world championships and 2020 Asian Championships.
Also Read: Ravi Dahiya finds ‘peaceful easy feeling’ in new atmosphere at Chhatrasal Akhara
Bajrang Punia — Bronze
Having confirmed the quota for Tokyo Olympics in 65kg freestyle, Bajrang trained with Jitender at his Sonepat during the lockdown. But as soon as the unlock process started, the world medallist moved to Vijaynagar to train.
Jitender — Silver
Jitender too moved to Vijaynagar to train at Inspire Institute of Sports (IIS) under 2004 Olympic champion from Cuba Yandro Quintana.
Gaurav Baliyan — Silver
Baliyan has been off the grid ever since the lockdown was imposed. However, it is believed that the wrestler is training at the local akhada in Uttar Pradesh.
Deepak Punia — Bronze
The wrestler trained in his village during the lockdown. But as soon as the lockdown was lifted, Deepak took the first bus back to Delhi to resume his Olympic training under Satpal at Chhatrasal Akhada.
Satyawart — Silver
The middle-heavyweight wrestler is training at his father’s akhada, The Satyawan Akhada in Rohtak. Satyawart will be vying his chances in 97kg when Asian Qualifiers resume next year.
Greco Roman:
Sunil Kumar– Gold
The golden boy of India’s Greco-Roman team, Sunil is training at the Mehar Singh akhada in Rohtak. The wrestler has resumed mat training and say ”wrestling is more fun now, with sparring”.
Arjun — Bronze
Arjun Halakurki is the only wrestler in the current team who hails from the southern part of India. The Karnataka native was training in his village during the lockdown.
Ashu — Bronze
Just like many of his teammates, Ashu too spent most of his training in his village.
Aditya Kundu — Bronze
Aditya Kundu is training in Zirakpur under his coach Ranveer Singh.
Hardeep — Bronze
Hardeep initially began training in his village but later shift the base to Sonepat to get better training facilities.
Women’s Wrestling:
Nirmala — Silver
Nirmala Devi is amongst the veteran wrestlers in women’s wrestling. However, her dedication to prove that age is just a number is an inspiration to many youngsters. Nirmala is currently training at the police academy in Karnal.
Pinki — Gold
Pinki too is training at her home with one of her seniors from her childhood akhada.
Sarita Mor — Gold
Sarita is currently training with her husband Rahul Mann who is also her coach presently. Apart from this, she also spends time picking Jaamun and playing with her dog amongst other things.
Vinesh Phogat — Bronze
Ever since winning the bronze medal at the Asian Championship, she has been off the grid, putting all her energy to fulfill her childhood dream on winning an Olympic medal. She is currently training with her elder sister Priyanka.
Gursharan Preet Kaur — Bronze
Gursharan is staying with her mother and helps her in household chores. Besides this, she also spends time with her daughter and training to make a comeback for the Olympics.
Anshu — Bronze
Anshu is training at her Chaudhary Bharat Singh Memorial Sports School in Nidani under coach Jagdeesh.
Sakshi Malik — Silver
Sakshi Malik is training with her husband Satyawart at Satyawan Akhada.
Divya Kakran — Gold
Divya Kakran has moved to Himachal Pradesh to train in the mountains until the covid-19 situation in New Delhi gets normal.
Also Read: Geeta Phogat eyes Tokyo Olympics, begins preparations
