Indian Wrestling Thread ...

[Observer]

Any news on Narsingh Yadav?
Its very sad how a tremendous wrestler and a lifetime of insane work was wasted away. He should probably try to convert to some sort of mixed martial arts competitions. These professions are so risky, the guy did everything right his whole life and then 1 glitch ended it all.

[prasen9]

Do we really know that he has not doped all his life and just once?

[Observer]

He did claim that he has passed dope tests all his life. He had won many international laurels prior to the Rio Olympics, all of which had stringent testing standards.
The level of awareness athletes have in a sport like Wrestling is pretty low. This could be attributed to the fact that the sport is more popular among the relatively less educated people. A lot depends on the system, coaches, administrators etc. Also wrestling has a culture of power and honor where juniors respect teachers and seniors to the point of worshipping them. There are obvious advantages to that but unfortunately it also creates a lot of scope for power games, politics and foul play.
The wrestlers have very difficult lives with very low odds of success for a lot of work. He would also probably have very little support and might be facing a lot of mental trauma. I find it difficult to not sympathize with the guy.

[prasen9]

There were many athletes who were not caught for a long time and passed all tests and then when new tests came out in the future, several of their previous samples turned out to be tainted. Even if we take it that he was clean all his life, he is not a 17 year old. He knows the implications for doping. I know it is not the same, but, saying "Oh, I led a good life. I goofed up once and murdered one person." will not get you anywhere. The crime was very serious here. Anyway, everyone makes mistakes. I hope he learns and moves on in life, becomes a clean athlete again and earns laurels.

[Observer]

The crime was very serious here. Anyway, everyone makes mistakes. I hope he learns and moves on in life, becomes a clean athlete again and earns laurels.

Cannot disagree with the seriousness however there is some probablility that there was some foul play involved and it might not be his fault. I agree with your views though. Also his Olympic wrestling career is largely over, after a 4 year ban and the mental trauma its highly unlikely that he would ever compete again. Transitioning to a Mixed Martial Arts league might be a good way forward for him.

[jayakris]

Observer, we had so much discussion of this in the Olympics thread. The fact is that he was tested positive. If there was any way for him to be excused for that, or there was any quick investigation that could be done to show that he was innocent or that there was a pre-planned conspiracy, I would think we would have heard something by now. It doesn't seem so. He himself has not said anything much, after all that big talk by himself and some politicians at that time last August. But CBI did take over the case in mid October for investigation, so maybe something could come out later.

Narsingh is getting married to wrestler Shilpi Sheoran next month though. So, good luck to them!

[arjun2761]

Meanwhile our mens FS wrestlers continue to be decidedly mediocre. They competed in the team world cup and finished 8th out of the 8 teams and barely won a single bout in their losses.

[Observer]

@jayakris You made some very good points, cannot disagree with any of that and the fact that he also didn't say enough afterwards. Goodluck to them for their married life!

@arjun2761 disappointing result. Im not sure if these were the top 8 countries in the world based on some qualifiers, but if they were thats pretty amazing that India was among the top 8. All our experienced campaigners have retired/been banned(Sushil, Yogi, Narsingh), so we can give our boys a benefit of doubt this time and hope for big improvements in the future.

[sameerph]

It seems we did not take this world cup seriously. We did not field anyone in 57 kg ( which is actually one of our best weight categories as of now) and that means we were 0-1 down to start with. But, disappointing from others especially Bajrang Punia who was one experienced wrestler in the team. Yes, with big guns Sushil and Yogeshwar retired and next best Narsingh out, we are a bit thin in mens freestyle right now. Lot of talent is seen in juniors and cadets though. So, hopefully we will get 1-2 by next Olympics who can contend for a medal.

[jaydeep]

It seems we did not take this world cup seriously. We did not field anyone in 57 kg ( which is actually one of our best weight categories as of now) and that means we were 0-1 down to start with. But, disappointing from others especially Bajrang Punia who was one experienced wrestler in the team.

We sent national champions for this tournament ... Only in 57 kg, Sandeep Tomar informed the federation of his unavailability owing to his brother’s wedding.

Wrestling World Cup: 29 defeats, 7 walkovers and a wooden spoon for India

They certainly were “fun suckers” but this wasn’t a depleted team. India had sent their best wrestlers to Iran. The team that the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) sent for the year’s first major tournament comprised national champions in each of the eight categories.

Days after the WFI sent the team list to the organisers, Sandeep Tomar, the country’s best in the 57 kg category, informed the federation of his unavailability owing to his brother’s wedding. Utkarsh Kale, a promising young wrestler from Maharashtra, was named as Tomar’s replacement as he was the runner-up at the national championship. Kale joined the national camp in Sonepat but days before the World Cup, he told the coaches that he was unfit and returned home. It was still a week to the World Cup. WFI hurriedly called up Amit Dahiya, considered Sushil Kumar’s prodigy. But they couldn’t procure his visa in time.

[arjun2761]

I think many of our Olympians and most of our officials meet the definition of "fun suckers."

[sameerph]

In the Asian Wrestling championships just concluded in New Delhi, India finished with 10 medals - 1 gold, 5 silver and 4 bronzes. This is 1 more than the tally achieved in the Asian championships last year.

These are the details of Indian medalists-

Mens freestyle -

GOLD - Bajrang Punia (65 kg)
SILVER - Sumit (125 kg)

Men's Greco-Roman-

BRONZE - Harpreet Singh (80 kg), Anil Kumar (85 kg)

Women's wrestling-

SILVER - Sakshi Malik (60 kg), Divya Kakran (69 kg), Vinesh Phogat (55 kg), Sarita (58 kg)
BRONZE - Ritu Phogat (48 kg), Jyoti (75 kg)

There seems to be major uptick in performances in womens wrestling post Sakshi's medal winning performance in Rio. We had only 3 medals in last year's championships and only 2 in 2014 Asian games. We have 5 now, 4 of them were silvers. It was excellent performance in particular by Vinesh Phogat who came back from a bad injury suffered at Rio. She was the only one who came close to beating a Japanese wrestler.

In mens freestyle, we are still not getting too many medals even at Asian level although the competition at Asian level is really good and Bajarang's gold was against some world class opposition.

Greco Roman seems to be back where it was after some hope a couple of years back.

[arjun2761]

Yes, great performance by the women as most of the silver medalists lost to Japanese who are among the best in their weight classes. Hopefully, these women are developed into medal prospects at Tokyo.

Bajrang Punia's gold medal was also a great performance as he did beat a world class Iranian on his way to the title. The Greco-Roman heavier weights and the heavy weight FS medals don't mean too much as they are likely not world class performers. Sandeep Tomar was apparently leading in the 57Kg fight before he got injured, so he possibly is our other world level prospect in FS. Ideally, we need more talent coming through in mens FS to have any medal hopes for Tokyo.

[sameerph]

Although FS super heavy medal may not translate immediately into world level one, silver by Sumit is laudable. This seems to be the first medal in heavier weights at Asian level in a long time and he needs all encouragement needed to start with a medal at Asian to start with.

[arjun2761]

Yes, Sumit is a great story coming back from a serious back injury. He is definitely an Asian games prospect and did fine in the final losing 2-6 to the WR #17 Iranian (who will presumably move up now with his Asian title). However, the only other Asian in the Super Heavy top-20 is another Iranian who wasn't there, so the level of competition wasn't truly world class (of course, Sumit may himself move into the top-20 of the rankings with his Asian runners up finish as I am not sure how reliable the rankings are in a sport with relatively few worldwide events).