Hyderabad: Wrestling, one of the oldest sports across the globe will commence in the Paris Olympics on August 5. Six wrestlers will represent India in the discipline and they will be looking forward to earning a medal for the nation. It is the second most successful sport for India after Field Hockey with seven medals in total.
India will be coming into the event with 110 athletes and high hopes will be pinned on wrestling as the wrestlers have made a comeback with solid performances after the sport was embroiled in controversy since 2023.
- History
Wrestling is one of the oldest sports in human history and multiple scriptures with cave drawings from ancient times displaying wrestlers using various holds showcase that. The sport was first contested in 708 BCE and the wrestling bouts were organised in two disciplines - upright and ground wrestling. It was also a part of the pentathlon.
Greeco-Roman wrestling made its debut in the modern Olympics in Athens in 1896. From 1908, it became a permanent fixture in the Olympics. Freestyle Olympics was inducted into the carnival of Games in the 1904 edition and it became a permanent discipline from Antwerp 1920 Games. Women’s freestyle wrestling has been on the Olympic Programme since Athens 2004.
- India’s Performance In Olympics
Indian wrestlers have been producing some sensational performances in the history of the Olympics earning seven medals from the sport. Khashaba Jadhav opened the account of wrestling medals for India in the 1952 Helsinki Olympics in the freestyle 57 Kg category. Khashaba was initially not included in India’s Olympic squad but he outplayed national champion Niranjan Das thrice and convinced the authorities to send him to the Olympics.
India had to wait for the next 56 years to fetch a wrestling Olympic medal. Sushil Kumar bagged a bronze in the 66 Kg category in the 2008 Beijing Olympics. He began his campaign with a loss against Andriy Stadnik of Ukraine but as the latter went on to enter the final of the event, Sushil got a chance to take a shot at the bronze medal through the repechage round. He beat USA’s Doug Schwab and Belarus’ Albert Batyrov before beating Kazakhstan’s Leonid Spiridonov to win bronze.
Sushil Kumar added a feather to his cap with one more achievement by winning a silver medal in the 2016 Rio De Janeiro Olympics and becoming the first Indian athlete to win two individual Olympic medals. His compatriot Yogeshwar Dutt won the bronze medal in the freestyle 60 Kg despite battling an eye injury in the 2012 London Olympics.
Four years later, Sakhi Malik became the first Indian women's wrestler to win an Olympic medal by securing a bronze in Rio. She won the medal in women’s 58 Kg freestyle. Ravi Dahiya won the silver medal in men’s freestyle 57 kg in 2020 while Bajrang Punia earned a bronze in his Olympic debut at 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
- The Indian contingent in Paris
Antim Panghal (Women’s 53 Kg)
The youngster secured an Olympic quota place in the World Championships held in Belgrade last year winning a bronze medal in the tournament. She beat Dominique Parrish, a World Championships gold medallist; Roksana Zasina, a five-time European Championships medallist; Natalia Malysheva, another European Championships medallist; and Jonna Malmgreen, who has won the European Championships gold twice on her way to the bronze medal. The grappler ranked No. 6 in the world at the moment won a couple of matches in the ranking series held last month.
Vinesh Phogat (Women’s 50 Kg)
India’s brightest hope to secure a wrestling medal in Paris, Vinesh Phogat secured a quota after putting in hard yards. She protested against the then Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) president Brij Bhushan Singh and it was a tiring battle between the wrestlers and the WFI. The wrestler also has to change her weight category to 50 Kg from 53 Kg as Antim Panghal had already secured a spot in the latter.
However, Vinesh made a solid return to the mat by winning the national trials in March and qualifying for the Asian Olympic Qualifiers. There, she won all of her three bouts and earned a quota for the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Anshu Malik (Women’s 57 Kg)
Anshu showcased her excellence in the sport when she won a silver medal in the 2021 World Championships. She also won a silver in the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham and the wrestler was on her way to carving a glorious career. However, an injury stopped her progress but she made a comeback to the sport and secured an Olympic quota at the Asian Qualifiers this year defeating Kyrgyzstan’s Kalmira Bilimbek Kyzy and Uzbekistan’s Laylokhon Sobirova.
Nisha Dahiya (Women’s 68 Kg)
Three years ago, it was a day of chaos and confusion for Nisha, when she received several calls and messages asking about her welfare. A namesake was shot in Sonepat and that caused confusion with her friends and relatives mistakenly assuming the victim to be her.
However, the times have changed and her phone rang with multiple calls and messages yet again. But, this time they called her to congratulate for securing a quota in the Paris Olympics at the World Olympic Qualifiers. Nisha started her campaign by beating Alina Shauchuk and then followed it with a victory over European Championship medalist Adela Hanzlickova of the Czech Republic. Her victory against World Championship medalist Alexandra Anghel in the next match ensured an Olympic quota for the wrestler.
Reetika Hooda (Women’s 76 Kg)
Young gun Reetika Hooda has been in sublime form this year so far winning all of the eight bouts she played this year. The youngster showed promising her performance but the real deal was her campaign in the Asian Olympic Qualifiers. She was placed in a tough group and the task to through that group looked daunting to say the least.
Two Asian Games medallists – Wang Juan and Hwang Eun-ju, and a World Championships medallist – Enkh-Amaryn Davaanasan were placed in her group. But, she defied the odds betaing all of them and went on to defeat Chinese Taipei’s Chang Hui-Tsz to earn an Olympic Quota.
Aman Sehrawat (Men’s 57 Kg)
The solitary male wrestler in the Indian contingent has shown consistency through his performance since 2023r. The wrestler won the gold medal in the Senior Asian Championships played last year in Kazakhstan. He also won the bronze medal in the Asian Games. However, he failed to secure an Olympic quota in the Asian Qualifiers played this year.
The redemption for him came this year as he won all his bouts in the World Qualifiers beating Bulgaria’s Georgi Vangelov, Ukraine’s Andriy Yatsenko and North Korea’s Han Chong-song to secure a place in the Paris Games.
- Basic Rules
There are a couple of Olympic wrestling disciplines - Greeco-Roman and Freestyle. In Greeco Roman, wrestlers can use only arms and upper body to attack their rival above or below the waist. Freestyle wrestling is a much more open sport and the athletes are allowed to use their legs and hold their opponents below the waist.
The wrestlers can emerge triumphant with a victory by fall or on the basis of points. Also, if a wrestler gets to 10 points, he wins the bout on basis of the technical superiority. The wrestlers are awarded points based on the difficulty of the moves they execute.
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