Indian Wrestling Thread ...

[arjun2761]

Not sure how good our women wrestlers are but I believe our 120 KG and Greco-roman wrestlers have zero chance at Olympic medals and at best they are looking at qualification as the pinnacle of their achievement.

[sameerph]

India's Narsingh Yadav became the 4th Indian male wrestler & 5th overall to qualify for London Olympics when he reached the final of the second & final Olympics qualifying tournament in Helsinki,Finland.

At the World Qualifying Tournament, Helsinki, Finland

74 kg Freestyle

[R1] Narsingh Yadav (IND) bye
[R2] Narsingh Yadav (IND) bt Andei Shykka (GER) 12-3
[QF] Narsingh Yadav (IND) bt Szabolcs Laszlo (ROM) 10-2
[SF] Narsingh Yadav (IND) bt Batuhan Demircin (TUR) 7-2

[F] Narsingh Yadav (IND) v. Olegk Motsalin (GRE)

I think the final will be played later today.

[Ankit Desai]

Yes, YADAV Narsingh reach final in Free Style 74 kg category and qualified for Olympic 2012. Both finalist will qualify for the London 2012 according to rule 4.5 of the competition.

All other wrestler in Free Style, weight category above 74 except 120 kg failed to reach final.

So one more athlete goin to London 2012.

-Ankit

[arjun2761]

Narsingh Yadav wins the final to qualify, so a strong effort in the qualifiers.

[sameerph]

At the World Qualifying Tournament, Helsinki, Finland

74 kg Freestyle

[F] Narsingh Yadav (IND) d. Olegk Motsalin (GRE) 5-0

Good to see that both Sushil & Narsingh qualified thru to London by emphatically winning golds in the first & second qualification tournaments respectively. Although these were essantially tournaments with lesser competition as many wrestlers from the respective classes had already qualified, still winning titles should give them a lot of confidence to do well at London.


Our 120Kg. freestyle wrestler & Greco Roman wrestlers have their last chance to qualify today.

[jaydeep]

Happy for Narsingh Yadav ... I met him couple of times, very hard-working wrestler.

[sameerph]

None of our Greco Roman wrestlers or other women wrestlers could not come even close to qualifying .

So, we will have a 5 member wrestling squad for the London Olympics. 4 Men ( Sushil, Yogeshwar, Amit Kumar & Narsingh Yadav) & 1 Women ( Geeta). Not much hope on womens side but hope that one of the men wrestlers can rise up to the ocasssion to win at least 1 medal from wrestling for us.

[sameerph]

This is the video of Narsingh Yadav's final bout in the olympics qualifying -

Narsingh Yadav final at Olympic qualifying

I like the way he pinned down his opponent in the second round.

[jaydeep]

Interview of the youngest member of the Indian wrestling contingent, 19 yrs old Amit Kumar.

Wrestler Amit hopes surprise factor goes his way in London

"It has not been long since I have started to contest in the senior category. I am totally new to many of my opponents. They don't have much of an advantage when it comes to strategising against me, as there are not enough videos of my bouts available. This one aspect can work in my favour in London."

"Experience can be a factor, but I am trying to improve on every aspect of my game. The coaches have been very supportive and with still some time left for the Olympics I am working hard to iron out any lacuna in my game," Amit said.

"I am also keeping an eye on what my opponents are doing and I am confident that I will put up a decent performance at London."

[jaydeep]

Indian chief coach of the women's wrestling team, O P Yadav, feels Geeta Phogat can spring a few upsets with a little bit of luck at the upcoming quadrennial event in London.

Wrestler Geeta can spring surprises in London: Coach

[Runcie]

A great article on wrestling explaining both the tradition and current scenario in detail:
http://www.livemint.com/2012/07/0620271 ... -of-g.html

I always wondered why despite of having massive popularity of Kushti in rural North India, we havn't won much medals at international level. The following piece answers it.

Despite Satpal’s victories, there was very little effort at updating wrestling in India, and mats were as hard to find in the 1990s as they had been a decade ago. The Chhatrasal akhara, which was set up in 1988, got its first mat only in 1992. And then a 15-year-old Sushil, trained on that mat, won a gold at the World Cadet Games in 1998. “Sushil’s win made the sports ministry realize that India could be successful in international wrestling if we modernized the sport,” says Raj Singh, secretary general, WFI, and a former wrestler. “SAI (the Sports Authority of India) began buying mats and distributing them to their own training centres as well as selected akharas.” Between 1979, when the first mat arrived, and 1998, when Sushil won at the World Cadet Games, there were less than 15 mats in India. Now there are over a thousand. Freestyle wrestling on mats, alongside kushti, is now a common feature even at dangals.

Also wrestling has great future in India:

“State government grants for wrestlers and akharas have also tripled in places like Haryana, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh,” Satpal says, adding, “We have started sending both senior and junior teams from India for international competitions throughout the year.”

Sushil himself has witnessed these changes with pride. “I went to the small akhara in my village sometime back,” he says, “and six-year-old kids who can’t even speak properly are learning the basics of wrestling. This is an amazing time to be a wrestler in India.”

Ps: Yes Jay, 6 year old kids start learning Wrestling in North India instead of football and I dont wanna change that a bit!

[Atithee]

We did not have mats until this recently? Wow! It must be one of the cheapest equipment to buy and, thus, have an infinite ROI compared to other sports in terms of medals won. I am glad we are making progress in this arena.

[jayakris]

Ps: Yes Jay, 6 year old kids start learning Wrestling in North India instead of football and I dont wanna change that a bit!

As long as they don't draw three lines on a wall and stand in front of it to whack a rubber ball thrown at them by somebody, but try any other sport, I will be happy as a gopher in soft dirt! Jay

[Atithee]

What if the three lines are drawn to form a huge rectangle, say, the size of a football goal post and the rubber ball is say, the size of a football? The guy instead of throwing is kicking it and the person near the wall is trying to save the ball from hitting anywhere in the aforementioned big rectangle? Would Jay still feel like the same?

[jayakris]

No. Of coursely, of coursely! Jay