New Delhi, May 17 (Wrestling News) "You will soon see the Bajrang who ruled the mat in 2018," assured Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist Bajrang Punia after winning the 65kg trials for the Commonwealth Games while Ravi Dahiya and Deepak Punia also expectedly triumphed in their respective categories, here on Tuesday.

Bajrang, who is under the scanner for lack of attacking moves in his bouts since the Asian Championship, booked his berth in the national team with wins over Sujeet (4-0) and Vishal Kalliraman (2-1).

Like it happened in the Asian Championship in Mongolia, where he won a silver, Bajrang was largely engaged in standing wrestling against Sujeet, winning points on passivity of his rival.

In the final against Vishal, he attempted a few moves but was put on clock himself for lack of action and eventually prevailed.

"I have just started competing after a long gap, injury was also there, so certainly there is a bit of hesitancy in going for attacks," Bajrang said.

"But you will soon the Bajrang of 2018 (who dominated the mat across globe). It's just a matter of playing more matches. I have World Championship in mind, and will play Ranking Series events before that. I will get better with more competitive bouts." Talking about the final, the 28-year-old said,"Vishal is not a bad wrestler. Also, due to heavy sweating, the mat was getting slippery and that at times nullifies the difference (in quality) between two wrestlers." In the 57kg, the gulf between Tokyo Games silver medal winner Ravi Kumar Dahiya and others was apparent.

He won by fall against Vijay and eked out a win by technical superiority against Aman in the final.

To his credit, Vijay, who hails from Maharashtra, did not get intimidated by Ravi and showed stomach for bout.

There was intense competition in the 74kg where Naveen emerged champion with a TSU win over Gaurav Baliyan, who recently win a silver in Asian Championship in 79kg.

There were many quality yet ageing wrestlers in this category such as Amit Dhankar, Parveen Rana, national champion Pritam along with young guns like Yash Tunir.

In the 86kg, Deepak Punia easily sailed through, winning against Vickey (4-3) and Sanjeet.

In the 97kg, Satyawart Kadiyan and Mausam Khatri bit the dust as Deepak claimed his place in the Indian team with an authoritative win over talented Sahil Ahlawat.

Mohit won the controversy-marred 125kg final.

The Birmingham Games will begin on July 28. 

Also Read : Wrestler Satender Malik assaults referee Jagbir Singh during CWG trials, gets life ban

News Source : PTI

New Delhi, May 17 (Wrestling News) In an unprecedented incident, Services' wrestler Satender Malik launched a physical assault on referee Jagbir Singh after losing the 125kg final during the Commonwealth Games trials, prompting the national federation to impose a life ban on him, here on Tuesday.

An incident of this magnitude has never taken place at an event organised by the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) although clashes between the supporters of wrestlers have been witnessed in the past.

Jagbir Singh, later, filed an FIR at IP Estate Police Station against the wrestler.

The Air Force wrestler was leading 3-0 with just 18 seconds left in the deciding bout when Mohit effected a 'takedown' move and also pushed Satender out of the mat for another point.

However, referee Virender Malik did not award two points to Mohit for the 'takedown' move and gave only one point for the pushout.

The decision upset Mohit, who requested for a challenge.

Satyadev Malik, the jury for the bout, excused himself from the decision for the sake of impartiality, since he belonged to the Mokhra village from where Satender also comes.

Senior referee Jagbir Singh was requested to look into the challenge and with the help of TV replays, he ruled that Mohit should be given three points.

The score became 3-3 and remained like that till the end, and eventually Mohit was declared the winner on criteria since he had scored the last point of the bout.

Satender lost his cool, walked across to Mat A where Ravi Dahiya and Aman were locked in the 57kg final, went straight to Jagbir, and began to assault him.

He first abused Jagbir and then slapped him, who lost his balance and fell on the ground. Jagbir also tried to retaliate but was overpowered by the heavyweight wrestler.

The 57kg bout was stopped as the incident created a furore inside the KD Jadhav hall at the IG stadium. Hundreds of fans, officials and participants were shocked to witness a scene like that.

The WFI officials managed to send Satender out of the hall and restarted the bout. Everything was happening right before the eyes of WFI President Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, who was sitting on the dias.

"We have imposed life ban on Satender Malik. The decision was taken by the WFI president," WFI's assistant secretary Vinod Tomar told PTI.

"The referees officiating that bout will also be called for an explanation that why points were not awarded to Mohit when it was clear that the takedown move was clean. Why did they let the situation go out of hand." A visibly shaken Jagbir said, "I had no inkling that he would do something like that." A Class One referee since 2013, Jagbir added, "I had nothing to do with this bout. I had officiated the 97kg and 65kg finals and gave the ruling only after I was asked to do it." "It's up to WFI what action it wants to take against him." Satyadev Malik told PTI, "I wanted to stay away from the decision making since we live close by. In international wrestling also, if the wrestler is from India, a jury from India can't officiate that bout." "So to avoid any situation where I am accused of bias, I stayed away. This is really unexpected because Satender is usually a very calm guy," Satyadev, who was also jury of appeal for the tournament, said.

Satender came close to representing India at a big-ticket event for the first time ever only today as this heavyweight category has been dominated by Sumit Malik, who is now serving a doping ban.

After Sumit, Anirudh and Mohit put themselves in contention consistently to be in Indian team. 

Also Read : Deepak Punia settles for silver again, outsmarted in 86kg final by Dauletbekov

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Ulaanbaatar (Mongolia), Apr 24 (Wrestling News) Deepak Punia could do nothing against the solid defence of Kazakhstan's Azmat Dauletbekov and settled for a silver medal while Viky Chahar grabbed a bronze in the 92kg competition on the concluding day of the Asian Championship, here on Sunday.

Eyeing his maiden gold medal at the continental event, Deepak reached the final without conceding a single point as he first blanked Iran's Mohsen Miryousef Mostafavi Alanjagh (6-0) and then humbled Korea's Gwanuk Kim (5-0).

However, Dauletbekov did not let the Indian play his aggressive game, foiling a few of his attacks with remarkable ease.

Deepak usually stuns his rivals with his speed and agility but Dauletbekov was up for the task and smartly foiled the Indian's leg attacks by maintaining distance.

Dauletbekov grabbed his chances on counter-attacks and kept building his lead to eventually win the final by a comfortable 6-1 margin.

It is Deepak's fourth medal at the Asian Championship, having won a silver (2021) and two bronze (2019, 2020) before.

Adding to India's medal tally was Viky, who won the bronze medal bout against Uzbekistan's Ajiniyaz Saparniyazov 5-3.

India signed off with 17 medals from the Continental event but Ravi Dahiya was the lone gold medal winner in the men's freestyle 57kg category.

While Greco Roman wrestlers' five-medal winning show was encouraging, the fact that India managed to win just one gold medal when the fields were depleted, is not a good sign.

Meanwhile, Mangal Kadyan could not earn a podium finish as he lost the 61kg bronze medal clash 4-6 to Kyrgyzstan's Ulukbek Zholdoshbekov.

In 74kg, talented Yash Tunir bowed out after a close 10-11 defeat against Uzbekistan's Ikhtiyor Navruzov in the qualification round.

In 125kg, Anirudh Kumar had lost his quarterfinal 4-8 to Korea's Yeihyun Jung. 

Also Read : Ravi wins hat-trick of Asian Championship gold medals

News Source : PTI

Ulaanbaatar (Mongolia), Apr 23 (Wrestling News) Indian wrestler Ravi Kumar Dahiya clinched his third straight Asian Championship gold medal with a dominating performance in the 57kg category, winning the title clash by technical superiority against Kazakhstan's Rakhat Kalzhan, here on Saturday.

Ravi, the Tokyo Olympics silver medallist, conceded early lead in all his bouts, but as is his wont, bounced back in tremendous fashion to outsmart his rivals in the men's freestyle event.

It was his second final of the season, having won a silver at the Dan Kolov event in February.

Ravi, who hails from Nahri village in Sonepat, yet again showed his immense physical prowess and tactical superiority when he outsmarted Japan's Rikuto Arai (VSU) and pulled off a comprehensive 12-5 win over Mongolia's Zanabazar Zandanbud en route the final.

In the title clash, Kalzhan moved ahead with a take-down and for considerable time did not let the Indian make any move. However, true to his style, Ravi began to dominate the bout with his unmatched class.

He effected six consecutive two-pointers and in-between saved himself from a left-leg attack to finish the bout early in the second period to secure India's first gold medal of the tournament this year. Ravi had won gold at the 2020 edition in Delhi and in Almaty last year. 

Also Read : Ravi, Bajrang, Gourav to fight for gold at Asian Championship

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Ulaanbaatar (Mongolia), Apr 23 (Wrestling News) Tokyo Olympic silver medallist Ravi Dahiya was his usual dominant self, Bajrang Punia did not have to struggle much while Gourav Baliyan was impressive in his campaign as the three Indians kept themselves in the reckoning for gold medals at the Asian Championship, here on Saturday.

Ravi, who hails from Nahri village in Sonepat, yet again showed his immense physical prowess and tactical superiority when he outsmarted Japan's Rikuto Arai (VSU) and pulled off a comprehensive 12-5 win over Mongolia's Zanabazar Zandanbud in the 57kg men's freestyle event.

The Japanese was quick with his moves and initially troubled Ravi with his double-leg attacks which even took the Indian off his feet but once the Haryana wrestler got the measure of his rival, he dictated the terms in the bout.

Ravi not only found away to block Arai's attack but also got himself into position to find take-down moves from both sides as the Japanese did not have a plan 'B' to counter the in-form Indian.

Ravi kept consolidated his lead and eventually won by technical superiority.

In the semifinal against Zandanbud, Ravi fell behind 0-4 after the home wrestler effected a take-down move and followed that up with a gut-wrench but Ravi again was quick in finding a way to thwart his rival.

In no time, he effected five back-to-back two-pointers to pull ahead and easily reached the final.

On the contrary, Bajrang, who is competing for the first time since winning a bronze at the Tokyo Games, did not have to contend with quality rivals en route the finals.

Neither Abbos Rakhmonov (UZB) nor Haji Mohamad Ali (BRN) was equipped with the game to challenge a wrestler of the calibre of Bajrang, who made only one move across quarterfinal and semifinal bouts.

His rivals were passive and Bajrang got points on their lack of action.

It is not good for Bajrang since he needed to test himself ahead of the Asian Games in the competitive 65kg category.

Meanwhile, Gourav Baliyan moved swiftly on the mat, applied his technique with confidence and yielded results for his good work.

He overpowered Turkmenistan's Gurbanmyrat Ovezberdiyev in super quick time, finishing the quarterfinal in just 28 seconds with five consecutive gut-wrench after getting hold of his opponent.

His semifinal was a tough contest with Kyrgyzstan's Arsalan Budazhapov fighting tooth and nail. In the fast-paced contest, in which counter-attacks from both the wrestlers made it an engrossing bout, Gourav was trailing 4-5 and just 14 seconds to go, he found a match-changing take-down move to make it 6-5 and eventually won 8-5.

Satywart Kadiyan (97kg) and Naveen (70kg) will fight for bronze medals.

India have so far won 10 medals, including two silver, in the continental championship. 

Also Read : Hardik's thinking cap is on, it has raised his game, says Gavaskar

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Ulaanbaatar (Mongolia), Apr 22 (Wrestling News) Anshu Malik finally lost in the title clash after winning three earlier bouts in a dominant fashion to clinch a silver in the 57kg category at the Asian Wrestling Championships here on Friday.

Radhika also won a silver in 65kg category while Manisha bagged a bronze in the 62kg division.

Anshu lost to Tsugumi Sakurai of Japan by fall in the gold medal bout.

The Indian was dominance personified as she won all her three earlier bouts by technical superiority before losing to Sakurai in the 57kg final.

The 20-year-old defending champion from Haryana's Nidani village dished out a strong performance and literally toyed with her opponents to assure herself a third Asian Championship medal.

She had won a bronze in the 2020 edition at home and won the 57kg title last year in Almaty.

Anshu, who became the first Indian woman wrester to reach the World Championship final last year, began with a win over Uzbekistan's Shokhida Akhmedova and followed that up with another dominating victory against Singapore's Danielle Sue Ching Lim, who appeared at sea against her superior Indian rival.

Anshu hardly gave her rivals time to think or strategise as she pulled off move after move with ease to bamboozle them.

She overpowered Mongolia's Bolortuya Khurelkhuu in the semifinals, beginning with a four-point throw that ensued from a double-leg attack.

Easy take-downs and push-out points meant that the last-four stage bout ended in just two minutes and 12 seconds.

Radhika emerged victorious against Dariga Aben of Kazakhstan in her Round 5 bout to clinch the silver.

Manisha, meanwhile, settled for a bronze after losing to Korea's Hanbit Lee. The Indian, who has been doing well in the 62kg category at domestic events for some time, lost her semifinal in just 40 seconds to Japan's Nonoka Ozaki to bow out of gold medal race.

Ozaki trapped her in leg-lace move early in the contest and finished the bout in a jiffy.

This was after Manisha was off to a flying start, winning 9-0 against Kazakhstan's Ayaulym Kassymova.

Meanwhile, Swati Shinde (53kg) lost both her bouts by technical superiority to go out of medal race. 

Also Read : Anshu Malik to fight for Asian Championship gold, Manisha to wrestle for bronze

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Ulaanbaatar (Mongolia), Apr 22 (Wrestling News) Anshu Malik was dominance personified as she won all her three bouts by technical superiority to breeze into the 57kg title clash while Manisha will fight for 62kg bronze at the Asian Championship here on Friday.

The 20-year-old defending champion from Haryana's Nidani village dished out a strong performance and literally toyed with her opponents to assure herself a third Asian Championship medal.

She had won a bronze in the 2020 edition at home and won the 57kg title last year in Almaty.

Anshu, who became the first Indian woman wrester to reach the World Championship final last year, began with a win over Uzbekistan's Shokhida Akhmedova and followed that up with another dominating victory against Singapore's Danielle Sue Ching Lim, who appeared at sea against her superior Indian rival.

Anshu hardly gave her rivals time to think or strategise as she pulled off move after move with ease to bamboozle them.

She overpowered Mongolia's Bolortuya Khurelkhuu in the semifinals, beginning with a four-point throw that ensued from a double-leg attack.

Easy take-downs and push-out points meant that the last-four stage bout ended in just two minutes and 12 seconds.

Manisha, who has been doing well in the 62kg category at domestic events for some time, lost her semifinal in just 40 seconds to Japan's Nonoka Ozaki to bow out of gold medal race.

Ozaki trapped her in leg-lace move early in the contest and finished the bout in a jiffy.

This was after Manisha was off to a flying start, winning 9-0 against Kazakhstan's Ayaulym Kassymova.

She will fight for bronze against Korea's Hanbit Lee.

Meanwhile, Swati Shinde (53kg) lost both her bouts by technical superiority to go out of medal race. 

Also Read : Sarita Mor, Sushma Shokeen take bronze at Asian Championship

News Source : PTI

Ulaanbataar (Mongolia), Apr 21 (Wrestling News) Defending champion Sarita Mor was not at her best but still managed to win a bronze medal while Sushma Shokeen also earned a podium finish at the Asian Wrestling Championship here on Thursday.

Competing in the five-wrestler 59kg category, Sarita, the 2021 World Championship bronze medallist, began with two defeats -- against Mongolia's Shoovdor Baatarjav (1-2) and Japan's Sara Natami (VSU) -- but made a comeback by winning her last two bouts.

She first beat Uzbekistan's Dilfuza Aimbetova by technical superiority and then followed that up with a 5-2 win over Diana Kayumova.

"I could have won that bout against Mongolian girl. But since she was from home team, she got some favour from the referees. She was fleing the mat but was not given any caution, she benefitted from that," Sarita told PTI.

"That Japan wrestler was also beatable. It was just not my day. I could not perform the way I wanted to. Maybe because of weather. It is high-altitude city, I did not feel active on the mat. Plus, hardly there was any gap between my bouts," she added.

Also winning bronze was Sushma in 55kg category, which also featured only five wrestlers.

She lost by technical superiority to Japan's Umi Imai but bounced back with a 5-0 win over Kazakhstan's Altyn Shagayeva in the next round. Then she enjoyed a stupendous bout against Uzbekistan's Sarbinaz Jienbaeva, wining by fall.

However, she ended with a heavy defeat against local girl Otgonjargal Ganbaatar, to whom she lost by technical superiority. The two wins were enough for her to secure a bronze.

Manisha was also in reckoning for a bronze in the 50kg but lost the medal match by fall to Uzbekistan's Jasmina Immaeva.

Sonika Hooda (68kg) and Sudesh Kumari (76kg) could not reach the medal round.

India have so far won seven bronze medals at the championships. The Greco Roman wrestlers had won five bronze on the first two days of the continental championships. 

Also Read : India's Greco Roman wrestlers win 3 bronze on opening day of Asian Ch'ship

News Source : PTI

Ulaanbaatar (Mongolia), Apr 19 (Wrestling News) On a memorable day for India at the Asian Wrestling Championship, three of the five Greco Roman grapplers in action, including Sunil Kumar, won bronze medals, here on Tuesday.

This is for the second time that Sunil has earned a podium finish at the Asian championship, having won the 87kg title in the 2020 edition.

The 23-year-old opened up a huge 5-0 lead early in his bronze medal bout against Mongolia's Batbayar Lutbayar and eventually won by technical superiority.

This was after he lost the semifinal by technical superiority to Uzbekistan's Jalgasbay Berdimuratov. He had started with a 5-3 win over Japan's Masato Sumi.

In the 55kg competition, Arjun Halakurki defeated Davaabandi Munkh Erdene 10-7 in the bronze play-off. He had lost his quarterfinal to Kazakhstan's Amangali Bekbolatov.

Arjun had also won a bronze at the 2020 edition of the event.

In 63kg, Neeraj got the better of Uzbekistan's Islomjon Bakhramov 7-4 to earn a podium finish.

He had reached the play-off after losing his quarterfinal to eventual champion Tynar Sharshenbekov from Kyrgyzstan.

However, Sajan Bhanwal missed out on a bronze when he was outplayed by Japan's Kodai Sakuraba in the 77kg category.

Prem Kumar bowed out after losing his opening 130kg qualification bout 0-5 to Iran's Amir Mohammadali Ghasemimonjazi. 

Also Read : SAI sanctions Rs 1.28 crore for participation of 30 wrestlers at Senior Asian C'ship

News Source : PTI

New Delhi, Apr 18 (Wrestling News) Sports Authority of India has sanctioned Rs 1.28 crore for the participation of 30 wrestlers, including Olympic medallists Ravi Dahiya and Bajrang Punia, at the Senior Asian Championship beginning in Mongolia on Tuesday.

A total of 20 wrestlers from the men's team across the Freestyle and Greco-Roman categories and 10 from the women's team will participate at the event, which is an exposure competition ahead of the Commonwealth Games and the Asian Games.

"The tour has been sanctioned at cost to the Government for a tune of an overall of Rs 1.28 Crore for both teams," SAI said in a release on Monday.

Tokyo Olympian Anshu Malik said she is looking forward to the tournament in Mongolia.

"I have been a part of various international camps and I'm happy to get all these world-class facilities at the SAI national centre of excellence on Lucknow," said Anshu.

"I thank the Wrestling Federation of India too for setting up the camp here ahead of the Sr Asian Championship and the CWG and Asian Games this year.

"Me and my teammates are looking forward to the best of performance from the upcoming tournaments." While the women's team has been a part of the SAI Lucknow training centre, the male wrestlers have been part of the SAI regional centre, Sonepat ahead of the Senior Asian Championship.

List of participants: Men's team: Freestyle – Ravi Dahiya, Mangal Kadiyan, Bajrang Punia, Naveen, Yash, Gourav Baliyan, Deepak Punia, Viky, Satyawart Kadiyan, Anirudh Kumar; Greco-Roman – Arjun Halakurki, Gyanender, Neeraj, Sachin Sehrawat, Vikas, Sajan, Harpreet Singh, Sunil Kumar, Ravi, Prem.

Women's team: Manisha, Swati Shinde, Sushma Shokeen, Anshu Malik, Sarita Mor, Manisha, Radhika, Sonika Hooda, Nikki, Sudesh. 

Also Read : UP's Krityga Pawar wins gold in women's 81kg in National Wrestling C'ships

News Source : PTI

Bhubaneswar, Mar 29 (Wrestling News) Krityga Pawar of Uttar Pradesh clinched the gold medal in the women's 81kg at the the ongoing youth, junior and senior national wrestling championships here on Tuesday.

Pawar won the gold with a total lift of 203kg (92kg in snatch and 111kg in clean and jerk).

The silver was bagged by Vanshita Verma of Chandigarh with a total lift of 201kg (87+114), while the bronze went to Pooja Yadav of Uttar Pradesh, who lifted 198kg in total (88+110).

In the junior section of women's 81kg category, Srilakshmi of Andrhra Pradesh won the gold with a lift of 185kg (81+104), while the silver and bronze were clinched by Harmanpreet Kaur of Punjab (183kg) and Hema Ganage of Maharashtra (169kg) respectively.

In the youth 81kg category, Srilakshmi bagged yet another gold, while the silver and bronze went to Amritha P Suni of Kerela and Andhra Pradesh's Y Chaitanya Kumari. 

Also Read : Bajrang's leg defence is not weak, it's just his style of play: His coach Sujeet Maan

News Source : PTI

New Delhi, Mar 28 (Wrestling News) Contrary to the popular opinion that Bajrang Punia's leg defence is a major shortcoming in his game, Sujeet Maan, the new personal coach of the star grappler says the wrestler looks vulnerable only because of his attacking style and all he needs to do is to convert the moves into points.

Bajrang's leg defence has been a major talking point in the last three years, especially in run up to the Tokyo Games, where he won a bronze medal.

Bajrang's struggle against Japanese nemesis Takuto Otoguro only accentuated the issue.

His coach Shako Bentinidis also worked on the same but Bajrang, 28, never made the desired progress, something which irked the national federation and eventually the Georgian was removed from his support staff.

However, Maan, who started working with Bajrang from January this year, says Bajrang's leg defence is not as weak as it is thought of.

"A lot of people opine that his leg defence is weak but that's not the case. It's a style. In cricket, the aggressive batters go for their shots and in the process they run the risk of losing their wicket. In Bajrang's case when he plays attacking game, he appears vulnerable in his leg defence," Maan told PTI in an interview.

"It's not that we are not working on his leg defence. We are trying that even if the rivals get hold of his legs, he wriggles out of it with solid defence." One of the main reasons for his leg-defence struggle has been linked with his training and competition on the soil (dangal) in his formative years. The wrestlers usually adopt a high stance during 'dangals' but when it comes to competition on the mat, the strategy does not work.

Many traditional wrestling stars like Jassa Patti, one of the famous and most successful dangal wrestlers in the country could not succeed on mat, struggling to win bouts even in National championships. Maan agrees that the training and competition style in early years could be a reason for whatever issues he has in his leg defence.

"On the mat you need to compete more on low and middle stance while in the Dangal, the wrestler maintains high stance. Habits are difficult to change, especially when it becomes muscle memory." Maan said he has been a part of the national camp and has observed Bajrang's game whenever he was there. He and Bajrang, recently, watched the wrestler's bouts from the 2019 World Championship, 2018 Asian Games, the 2021 Asian Championship videos and he is sure that going forward, adding more aggression to his style should help him.

"He needs to be aggressive and attack more. Attack is the best defence. The change he needs to make is he should attack but must not end up losing points or fail to score despite taking the risk.

"If he is managing to grab legs of his opponent, he must convert that move into points, that's what we are working on," Maan who won four Asian Championship medals, including a silver in 2004, said.

Talk about the 2024 Paris Olympics and Maan quickly points that they "don't have much time on our hands to prepare." But why? "Asian Championships is approaching and then there is one Ranking Series event. In August we have CWG which will be followed by the Asian Games, so there is not much time that we have. We have short-term targets before the Paris Games.

"This year our main target is Asian Games and if we succeed it would mean that we are at peak." Has anything changed in Bajrang's training style since Bentinidis left? "I have devised a plan for him. When Bajrang is not competing, he is focussing on heavy training, including weights, long duration runs, power training and endurance training. When competition is near we are focussing on speed and bouts." The Asian Championship, starting April 19 in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, will be Bajrang's first tournament after the Tokyo Games. 

Also Read : Physios were arranged at national camp to help Bajrang: WFI

News Source : PTI

New Delhi, Mar 25 (Wrestling News) The Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) on Friday clarified that it had arranged for physiotherapists to help Bajrang Punia at the national camp but the star grappler had refused to take their services.

Bajrang on Thursday claimed that he has been doing his rehabilitation on his own after struggling to get a dedicated physio.

The Tokyo Games bronze medallist had also admitted that physios were available at national camp but his coach Sujeet Maan had said that personal attention was required for a wrestler like Bajrang since physios have to attend a lot of wrestlers.

"...as per the request from Mr Bajrang Punia, the physiotherapist was sanctioned boarding and lodging at the SAI Sonipat center at cost to government.

"Since Dr Anand Kumar was not relieved by his department, therefore, WFI arranged another physiotherapist for Mr Bajrang. The WFI selected 2 physiotherapists and they visited SAI Centre on trial basis but Mr Bajrang denied taking their services.

"The WFI with the approval of SAI has also provided 2 physiotherapists at STC, Sonepat where the National Camp is going on," a release issued by WFI said.

Bajrang had expressed interest in training with Railways' Anand Dubey but the institution has a policy of not to spare staff for personal engagements. WFI also said that it tried to get Dubey's services for Bajrang.

"The WFI immediately sent a proposal to SAI TOPS for approval which was later approved by the Competent Authority and a letter was issued by SAI & WFI to Secretary, Railway Sports Promotion Board for the release and attachment of Mr Anand Kumar with Bajrang," it said. However Dubey never joined Bajrang.

WFI also gave details how Bajrang has been supported with the help of government before and after the Tokyo Games. 

Also Read : Anshu, Sarita to lead 10-member Indian women's team in Asian Wrestling Championships

News Source : PTI

New Delhi, Mar 25 (Wrestling News) World championships silver medallist Anshu Malik and bronze winner Sarita Mor will lead a 10-member Indian women's wrestling team at the Asian Championships to be held in Ulaanbatar, Mongolia next month.

While Anshu, a silver medallist in the 2021 World Wrestling Championships in Oslo, will represent in her pet 57kg category, Sarita will be take part in the 59kg section.

Sarita is a bronze medallist in her category at the 2021 World Championships.

The team was picked after the selections trials held at the SAI Training Centre in Lucknow on Friday.

In the other high-profile bout in the trials, Manisha defeated Rio Olympics medallist Sakshi Malik 1-5 to seal her place in the 62kg category.

Reigning Asian Games gold medallist Vinesh Phogat, surprisingly, didn't turn up for the trials.

Other women grapplers to book their places in the Asian Championships-bound squad are Manisha (50kg), Swati Shinde (53kg), Sushma Shokeen (55kg), Radhika (65kg), Sonika Hooda (68kg), Nikki (72kg) and Sudesh (76kg).

The Asian Championships will be held from April 19 to 24.

Also Read : Bajrang manages to prevail against fighting Rohit, secures 65kg spot in team for Asian Championship

News Source : PTI

New Delhi, Mar 24 (Wrestling News) Taking the mat for the first time since winning a bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics, star Indian wrestler Bajrang Punia was far from his dominant best as he just about managed to prevail 4-2 against a fighting Rohit to secure his place in the Indian team for the Asian Championships.

The national federation put Bajrang, Tokyo Olympic silver medallist Ravi Dahiya and Deepak Punia directly in the finals, a move which did not amuse other competing wrestlers and their coaches.

Eventually all three made the Indian team for the Championships, starting April 19 in Mongolia, with Ravi (57kg) getting a walkover from hard-working Aman, who like Ravi trains at Chhatrasal stadium.

Aman chose not to compete after developing stiff back following four tough bouts and Deepak (86kg) beat Vinod 6-0 in an ill-tempered final, which ended when the latter was given a third caution.

Bajrang, who had planned to compete in a couple of Ranking Series event to start his season but could not do so due to a left-knee issue, was not sharp and perhaps surprised by the aggression of his opponent.

Rohit effected take-down to go up 2-0 and also kept Bajrang static with his body lock. Just before the end of first period Bajrang found a way to fell his rival to log four points.

That two-point lead stayed with Bajrang though towards the end twice Rohit made superb leg attack moves but could not convert those into points. Bajrang used all his defensive skills to not lose any more point.

"This was my first bout after Olympics. It takes time to get that sharpness when you go to mat after so many months. After my injury I did my rehab on my own, I did not have a personal physio with me, otherwise I could have recovered early," Bajrang said.

"Overall I am happy with my performance considering that I competed after eight months. I felt good." The 28-year-old had injured his left knee during the National camp at Sonepat, late in January. He had trained in Iran before returning to country.

Meanwhile, intense competition was witnessed in 74kg category in which Yash Tushir emerged winner to be on the Indian team.

In a sea-saw battle, Yash, the junior world championship bronze medal winner, moved to 8-4 lead before pinning Pritam, the reigning national champion.

In all his bouts, Yash conceded early points but only to make strong comebacks.

His four-point throw against Sajan Jaglan was the move of the day.

Mangal (61kg), Naveen (70kg), Gourav Baliyan (79kg), Satywart Kadiyan (97kg) also booked their spots in the national free style team. 

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News Source : PTI