Indian Wrestling Thread ...

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Re: Indian Wrestling Thread ...

Post by sameerph »

Despite his loss in the final, Bajrang is emerging as a worthy successor to Sushil Kumar and Yogeshwar Dutt. He won gold medals in both Asian championships and Indoor Asian games this year and now this silver at the under 23 world championships. If he keeps up this progression, he will surely be a strong medal contender at Tokyo Olympics. Before that he needs to assert his Asian supremacy next year in the Asian games.
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Re: Indian Wrestling Thread ...

Post by prasen9 »

For the first time ever, I am even considering joining Bajrang Dal (Bajrang's Team/Squad [of fans]).
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Re: Indian Wrestling Thread ...

Post by prasen9 »

Sushil, Sakshi and a whole lot of others including Bajrang are commonwealth champions
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Re: Indian Wrestling Thread ...

Post by sameerph »

Winning medals in wrestling among commonwealth nations does not mean much at all. Have a looks at the opponents Sushil beat here - Praveen Rana (india), Jasmit Singh Phulka (Canada), Johannes Petrus Botha (South Africa) and Akash Khullar (New Zealand). Except for the South African everyone is an Indian. :D

I hope Sushil does not claim this as his achievement and keeps working to hard to claim real significant wins. If he can win a medal of any color in the Asian games next year it would be really noteworthy. My prediction is he will a gold in commonwealth games and will get injured before Asian games. :D
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Re: Indian Wrestling Thread ...

Post by prasen9 »

True. However, he did beat Praveen Rana. I don't know if the nincompoop let Sushil win. So, this means he is perhaps the best in India in that weight group.
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Re: Indian Wrestling Thread ...

Post by sameerph »

Yes, at least this time there was a fight it seems. He is the best in India in his weight category for sure as of now after Narsingh Yadav's ban. But, that also speaks poorly about other wrestlers that Sushil is able to win comfortably getting back after 3 years. If Sushil himself is back to his old level, we will know only when he fights some decent level competitions abroad ( not commonwealth games).
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Re: Indian Wrestling Thread ...

Post by sameerph »

Asian wrestling championships got concluded yesterday at Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. Overall we got 1 gold, 1 silver and 6 bronze medals.

This is the summary -

Mens freestyle -

Bronze - Bajrang Punia (65 kg), Vinod Kumar (70 kg)

Men's Greco-Roman-

BRONZE - Rajender Kumar (55Kg) Harpreet Singh (82 kg)

Women's wrestling-

Gold - Navjot Kaur (65 kg)
SILVER - Vinesh Phogat (50 kg)
BRONZE - Sakshi Malik (62 kg), Sangeeta Phogat (59kg)

Standout performance came from Navjot Kaur who became the first women wrestler to win a gold at Asian level. She beat a Japanese in the final. Also Vinesh Phogat beat a good Japanese wrestler but narrowly lost to a Chinese wrestler in the final.

Major disappointment was mens freestyle event. Last year's Asian champion Bajarang could only get a bronze and except Vinod Kumar, everyone else disappointed.

It seems our earlier foreign coaches have left and WFI has just appointed new ones. They need to work with freestyle wrestlers fast with Asian games approaching in August.
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Re: Indian Wrestling Thread ...

Post by sameerph »

We had one of the better hauls at the world junior wrestling championships held at Tranva,Slovakia. We ended up with 4 silver and 3 bronze medals which is best ever haul for few years at least. For comparison, we had only 3 bronze medals in 2017 and none in 2016.

These are the details of the medal winners-

Mens Freestyle -
57 Kg- Navin Siwag - Silver
86 Kg- Deepak Punia - Silver

Mens Greco Roman-
60 Kg- Vijay- Silver
77 kg- Sajan-Bhanwal- Silver
55kg- Vijay-Bronze

Womens-
57 kg- Mansi - Bronze
59 kg- Anshu Malik - Bronze

Pleasantly surprising to see best results from greco roman. Would be great if they can replicate this success at senior level in a few years time which will give us more medal opportunities in wrestling in multi sports games.
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Re: Indian Wrestling Thread ...

Post by arjun2761 »

Encouraged to see some Greco-Roman success. I don't normally associate great footwork from most Indian athletes, so it's possible that with some exposure we may be decent in Greco-Roman wrestling in the lower and middle weights.
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Re: Indian Wrestling Thread ...

Post by sameerph »

The reason why we are not so good in greco roman is because it is not popular in India, none of the wrestlers take up greco roman as first choice. Mostly the wrestlers who are not successful in freestyle take up greco roman. It can change if we get some success at international level.

This guy, Sajan-Bhanwal in 77 kg seems good. He won bronze in last year's world juniors and now a silver. Hope he gets ready to do something in seniors in a couple of years time.

In the meantime not so good news about this year's world championships -

Vinesh Phogat ruled out of Worlds, sustains injury in national camp
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Re: Indian Wrestling Thread ...

Post by sameerph »

World wrestling championships began in Budapest, Hungary.

Mens freestyle is first up. 4 weight categories started yesterday. Our best performance came surprisingly from 125 kgs where Sumit reached the SF before losing to a Chinese. He will fight for bronze today.
Another decent performance came from an unheard name, Sonya Gongane in 61 kg. He won 2 rounds against higher ranked opponents to reach QF and lost there to eventual finalist from Russia. So, he will get a chance at repachages today.

Today our best hope for a medal, Bajrang will be up as are the 3 more freestyle wrestlers.
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Re: Indian Wrestling Thread ...

Post by sameerph »

Great news coming in from Budapest. Bajrang has made it to the finals of freestyle 65kgs and assured at least a silver.

Bajrang beat Hungarian Asharin 9-4 in the first round, Korean Seungchul Lee 4-0 in second round,Mongolian Ochir 5-3 in the QF and Cuban Tobier 4-3 in the semi final.

The Cuban had beaten 3 times world champion Aleev in the first round.

I think this the biggest achievement for Bajrang so far bigger than Asiad gold. Hope he can covert that into gold tomorrow. Like Asiad he is meeting a Japanese in the final. A different and stronger Japanese though,Otoguro. He was taken out from Asiad team and reserved for world championships.
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Re: Indian Wrestling Thread ...

Post by sameerph »

Bajrang lost to Otoguro 9-16 in the final and settles for silver at Budpest world championships. Like at Asiad against the other Japanese, Bajrang caught into lot of leg attacks which cost him points. He fought valiantly to make a comeback but the Japanese was better on the day.

Womens and Greco Roman still to come. With Vinesh absent, do not expect any medals from those.
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Re: Indian Wrestling Thread ...

Post by sameerph »

Yes, a surprise medal in womens wrestling.

Pooja Dhanda wins bronze in womens 57 kgs. She had a very tough draw and it is a well earned medal. She beat a Russian first up 10-4, then beat last year'as world championships silver medalist Odunayo from Nigeria, lost in the QF narrowly against a Chinese eventual gold medalist. Came back in the repachages and beat Azeri wrestler who had upset the olympic champion. Then, in the bronze medal playoff, beat a Norwaygian girl.

And this is an olympic weight class. So, she is certainly a prospect for medal at Tokyo.

2 more wrestlers, Ritu Phogat in 50 kg and Ritu Malik in 55 kgs lost in bronze playoffs.

Ritu Phogat beat last year's WC runner up in the repachages.

When Vinesh gets back in 50kg, hope Ritu can go up to 53 kg. Then, we will have medal hopes in all 3 weight categories- 50,53 and 57.
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Re: Indian Wrestling Thread ...

Post by Sin Hombre »

Pooja finished 5th in the Asian Games and the 2 bronze medalists from that event were here and failed to medal. But the North Korean wrestler who won gold as well as the Chinese who won silver were both missing.

The North Korean looks to have gone down to 55kg at this tournament and the Chinese up to 59, and they both won bronze at those weights.

Missing completely is the Nigerian who beat her in the finals at the CWG earlier in the year.

The 10 weights will condense to 6 at the Olympics so certainly we will see some of the 55 and 59-ers move to 57.

Based on her performance over the 3 major events this year, I think she is definitely in the 5-12 grouping that could win a bronze with some luck (same as the 2 who won a bronze at the AG).
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