Amid that wreck, which noticed sitting protests by huge names like Bajrang Punia, Vinesh Phogat and Sakshi Malik flip into furore, planning for the Olympics took a backseat.The eventual outcome was solely six wrestlers making it to the Paris Video games — 5 ladies and only one for the boys’s competitors.
Credit score to Vinesh that she might keep within the zone regardless of being one of many central and most vocal figures within the wrestling protests. She is among the many 5 ladies wrestlers within the Indian contingent, however will compete within the 50kg. The WFI determined that the 53kg quota gained by Antim Panghal will keep together with her. Vinesh gained the 50kg quota on the Asian Olympic Qualifiers and can compete in the identical class at her third Olympics — the primary Indian lady wrestler to attain the feat.
The final time Vinesh wrestled within the 50kg occasion was within the 12 months 2018.
In addition to Vinesh and Antim, the three different ladies competing in Paris might be Anshu Malik (57kg), Nisha (68kg) and Reetika Hooda (76kg)
The lone male Indian wrestler who certified for the Paris Video games is Aman Sehrawat (57kg).
“Aman, Vinesh and Antim, provided that she is match.” These have been the picks of former India wrestler Sujeet Maan, who has been a part of the Indian teaching arrange and likewise skilled Bajrang within the current previous, together with on the Tokyo Olympics.
ANTIM PANGHAL (ladies’s freestyle 53kg)
Antim hasn’t competed since her bronze medal end on the 2023 World Championships. However it earned her the No. four seeding for the Paris Olympics, which places her within the high half and permits a comparatively clear have a look at the medal rounds with out dealing with world champion Akari Fujinami of Japan and Tokyo Olympics silver medallist Qianyu Pang of China.
However in Antim’s path might be fellow World Championships 2023 bronze medallist Lucia Yepez of Ecuador and the three-time bronze medallist at Worlds, Maria Prevolaraki of Greece.
Maan provides an attention-grabbing state of affairs that must be included within the equation to guage India’s medal probabilities.
“Russia will not be there, to begin with. Ravi (Dahiya) gained the silver medal in Tokyo and misplaced the ultimate in opposition to a Russian wrestler (Zaur Uguev),” he mentioned to elucidate Russia’s historic dominance on the mat.
Russia has gained essentially the most gold medals (62) on the Olympics in wrestling.
On that word, the ladies’s 53kg class, wherein Antim will compete, will not see Natalia Malysheva of Russia and Vanesa Kaladzinskaya of Belarus competing.
Antim defeated Natalia on the 2023 World Championships and misplaced to Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist Vanesa within the semifinals of the identical occasion.
Belarusian athletes have additionally been barred from the Paris Video games as a result of their nation determined to be Russia’s ally within the warfare in opposition to Ukraine.
AMAN SEHRAWAT (males’s freestyle 57kg)
Aman is seeded sixth at Paris 2024 Olympics and might be slotted within the backside half of the draw, alongside Japan’s Rei Higuchi and Armenia’s Arsen Harutyunyan — the three-times World Championships bronze medallist. It places Aman on collision course with Harutyunyan within the quarters and Higuchi within the semis.
Higuchi, the silver medallist from the Rio 2016 Olympics, had defeated Aman within the closing of the Hungary Rating Collection in June.
“If you happen to see, final month on the rating sequence in Budapest, Aman misplaced to Higuchi within the closing 1-11, and the Japanese is in his half of the draw,” Maan mentioned as a word of warning for Aman.
“I noticed that bout. Higuchi by no means gave Aman an opportunity, nazdeek bhi nahi lagne diya (he did not let Aman come even near him)…Amongst all of the international locations, Japan does essentially the most homework on every of their attainable opponents. In order that they will need to have labored out Aman as nicely.”
Aman has the massive footwear of Ravi, who was his fundamental competitor for a spot on the flight to Paris, to fill.
(Coach Sujeet Maan with Aman)
In response to Maan, the field that Aman should tick is the psychological degree, which stored Ravi head and shoulders above his opponents in Tokyo earlier than he misplaced the ultimate.
“Aman is younger, he’s simply 21. Loads will rely on his thoughts and what technique the coaches round him make,” mentioned Maan, who has seen Aman from up shut at nationwide camps as he grew as much as grow to be Ravi’s challenger.
Aman is thought to have the capability to combat your complete six minutes of a bout on the identical vitality degree, however Maan says that is not what wins Olympic and World Championship medals. He should keep away from shedding factors early in his bouts.
“He has vitality in abundance,” mentioned Maan. “At this degree, if you happen to concede early factors, then it turns into troublesome to get well in six minutes. If I can say, on the psychological degree Aman is behind Ravi. He does not work on his opponents, their strengths and weaknesses…He does not have that degree of defence or assault for the time being.”
“One Iranian coach had as soon as instructed me about Aman that if he makes good use of his thoughts, he can win an Olympic medal. But when he makes the identical errors like he did in opposition to Higuchi in Budapest (Rating Collection), then we won’t say,” he added.
VINESH PHOGAT (ladies’s freestyle 50kg)
Vinesh, together with Anshu, Nisha and Reetika, will go into the competitors unseeded — which leaves the quartet ready to know their rivals in respective rounds, in contrast to Aman and Antim who can have a look at the draw and calculate their seemingly rival in a selected spherical.
Being unseeded places wrestlers within the path of Olympic and World Championships medallists, making their development a lot more durable.
Vinesh, thus, will should be at her finest mentally, put the disturbing recollections of her tussle with WFI behind, and consider {that a} change in weight class is not going to place her off.
However Maan says it is simpler mentioned than accomplished.
After sleeping for nights on the sidewalks throughout wrestling protests, dealing with threats of a life ban, a knee harm, surgical procedure and finally a shift in weight class from 53kg to 50kg, Vinesh has seen all of it in her in any other case embellished profession. To not neglect how she defeated a career-threatening harm that lower quick her Rio Olympics marketing campaign.
(PTI photograph)
However nonetheless the demons Vinesh has fought of late will take some effort to be evaded haunting her in Paris if she have been so as to add to her World Championships, Asian Video games and Commonwealth Video games medals.
“Speaking about Vinesh, it is her third Olympics. And I’ll speak about her thoughts once more…If she will keep targeted on the competitors, then she may be very near a medal. It’ll additionally rely quite a bit on how she manages her weight,” opined Maan.
Vinesh has admitted that as a result of her muscle mass may be very excessive, she features weight simply. So to remain below 50kg on the Video games goes to be one other problem that she should overcome each mentally and bodily.
Who else among the many six wrestlers will be amongst medal competition?
Answering that query, Maan mentioned Reetika can become the darkhorse within the ladies’s 76kg class.
“If you wish to add one other one (medal contender), it may be Reetika Hooda. She is a brand new woman and may beat anybody on her day as a result of she is an unknown commodity, plus there’s much less competitors within the 76kg class.”
The wrestling competitors on the Paris Olympics begins on August 5.
