Indian Wrestling Thread ...

[sameerph]

This year's Asian wrestling championships started today in New Delhi.

Sunil Kumar became the first Indian gold medalist in Greco roman in Asian wrestling championships when he won the gold in 87 kg ( olympic weight class). 3 very goods wins over wrestlers from Japan,Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. Also Arjun Halakuri won a bronze in 55 kgs( non olympic weight class).

Overall the field is somewhat depleted here. China and North Korean teams are not there due to Coronavirus. Iran has not come with their best team. However, other nations including Japan have brought their best wrestlers. So, good test for our wrestlers.

[sameerph]

3 more bronze medals today in Greco roman - Ashu, Aditya Kundu & Hardeep in 67kg, 72kg & 97kg. 67 and 97 kgs are olympic weight classes.

So, we end up with 5 medals in Greco Roman ( 1 gold and 4 bronzes). Hope now we get at least a couple to qualify for Tokyo olympics in Greco Roman,

Womens wrestling starts tomorrow and our best Vinesh is drawn in the QF itself against the Japanese Mukaida whom she lost to at world championships before coming back to win bronze. Surprised that there are no seeds in wrestling still and supposedly top 2 wrestlers in the weight category.

[jaydeep]

As Chinese and North Koreans wrestlers missed this tournament due to the corona-virus outbreak ... Japan also has sent a relatively weaker team, still good performance by our women wrestlers.

We won 3 gold medals; Divya Kakran (68kg), Sarita Mor (59kg) and Pinki (55kg) ... Also, Nirmala Devi lost her 50kg gold medal match 2-3 against 2-time world under-23 champion, Japan’s Igarashi Miho ... 50kg and 68kg are the Olympic weight classes.

[sameerph]

Yes, good performance. Japan has sent close to their best team . So, this is really good so far. We are at #1 place in womens team ranking ahead of Japan. No team other than Japan has ever won a team title at an Asian event so far. Lets see if we can achieve that today.

But, some tough matches coming up - Vinesh against world #2 Mukaida whom she lost rather easily at WC, youngsters Anshu against world champion Risako Kawai and another youngster Sonam against World bronze medallist Yukako Kawai ( Vinesh in first round itself ), others will come up later.

[sameerph]

But, some tough matches coming up - Vinesh against world #2 Mukaida whom she lost rather easily at WC, youngsters Anshu against world champion Risako Kawai and another youngster Sonam against World bronze medallist Yukako Kawai ( Vinesh in first round itself ), others will come up later.

All our 3 wrestlers lost to Japanese world medalists today. All 3 likely to fight for bronze.

[sameerph]

Vinesh and Anshu won bronzes in 53 and 57 kgs respectively. Also Sakshi Malik won silver and Gursharan bronze in non-olympic weight classes.

We end up with 3 golds, 2 silver and 3 bronze medals in womens wrestling. 8 out of 10 possible medals.

Mens freestyle starts tomorrow.

Our main hopes, Bajrang and Ravi Kumar up tomorrow. Ravi up against 2017 world champ Takahashi in first round.

[sameerph]

Excellent day for us so far with 4 of our mens freestyle wrestlers going thru to the finals ( which will be in the evening )- Ravi Kumar, Bajrang, Gaurav Baliyan and Satyawart Kadian. Except for Gaurav Baliyan, other 3 were all having passage thru to the final. Especially impressive was Ravi beating 2017 WC gold medalist in first round and then beating fellow 2019 WC bronze medalist in the SF.

Ravi will be favorite in the final against Tajikistan. Bajrang will have a rematch of his 2018 world championships final which he lost against Japanese Otaguru. These 2 are really are among top 5 wrestlers in the world in this category( maybe top 3 too). So, that will be quite a bout to look forward to. I guess Baliyan and Kadiyan will be underdogs in their finals.

[sameerph]

Both Kadiyan and Baliyan lost their finals and get silvers. Baliyan is only 18 and lost a very close one 6-7 in 79 kgs. He is one for the future.

Our 2 big finals by Bajrang and Ravi to come.

[sameerph]

Ravi Kumar thrashed his Tajik opponent 10-0 to win gold but Bajrang lost 2-10 against 2018 WC gold medalist Otaguru.
That is a demoralising loss for Bajrang in an olympic year. Now at least 2 wrestlers - Rashidov from Russia and Otaguru are clearly ahead of him and he n a group of 3-4 chasing these 2.

Ravi is now looking like a better medal prospect for us. There will be a different Japanese, Rio 2016 silver medalist Higuchi at Tokyo as he beat Takatani in their olympiad trials. But, Ravi is now among top 4 wrestlers in his weight category with Russia,Japan and Turkey with anyone can prevail on a given day.

[Sin Hombre]

Move Ravi one tier up and move Bajrang one tier down in our next Olympics projection?

[sameerph]

Probably yes. Read comments of a knowledgeable Iranian observer on total olympics forum and he says-

to me right now Ravi Kumar is the best 57kg wrestler in the world or at least 2nd behind Uguev. his match vs Uguev was close in Nur-Sultan and I think he can beat Uguev right now if they wrestle again but those Russian coaches are master in analyzing opponents. they always find a way to create a perfect plan for their wrestlers.

If one has to give a probability of winning a medal, as of now I would Ravi more of a shot than Bajrang. Bajrang is not way off the mark though. He too has lost hardly 2-3 bouts in last 1 year. Hope he works out some strategies with his coach to be able overcome this Japanese and the Russian.

[sameerph]

Today we won 1 silver ( Jitender in 74 kgs) and 2 bronze medals ( Rahul Aware in 61 kgs and Deepak Punia in 86 kgs).

A bit disappointing for world silver medalist Deepak Punia. He lost to an unheralded Japanese wrestler in the semi finals who went on to beat an Iranian in the final to win gold. I think although Deepak won silver at last WC, he still needs time to succeed at senior level consistently. He is still only 20. So, has a lot of potential but for this olympics, I would consider him only as an outside medal prospect.

Good performance by Jitender, he lost narrowly in the final. Also if WFI stick to their earlier decision that anyone who medals at Asian championships will be confirmed for olympic qualifier, then Jitender gets selected for olympic qualifier in March and Sushil Kumar's chances are over. If Jitender goes to the olympic qualfiers and qualifies, he will go to Tokyo too. So, as of now looks like it is curtains for Sushil Kumar's career.

Overall based on performance here, would consider Ravi as our top medal prospect for Tokyo, Bajrang and Vinesh a bit behind in second bracket and Deepak Punia or other women wrestlers who qualify ( Anshu/Sakshi Malik ) etc. as outiside hopes.

I would be disappointed if we do not get any medal at Tokyo. 2 will be pretty good. 3 will be fantastic.

[Sin Hombre]

I think we need at least 2 medals in wrestling in Tokyo.

Interesting that the Iranian on that forum claims India shouldn't be sending its best wrestlers to every tournament to prevent analysis from opponents.

[sameerph]

Narsingh Yadav's ban has ended and now he will be eligible to qualify for Tokyo olympics-

My story will only be complete with an Olympic medal: Narsingh Yadav eyes Tokyo berth as ban ends

[prasen9]

ESPN did a story on one of the descendants of the mythological king Yadu: LionMan is back.