Inauspicious beginning to India's World Wrestling Championships campaign

More than a 100 countries are participating in this year’s event.

Day one of the World Wrestling Championships in Las Vegas saw three Indian Greco-Roman wrestlers compete in losing efforts - Deepak (66 Kg), Gurpreet Singh (75kg) and Hardeep (98kg). Gurpreet Singh and Hardeep got past the intial round but lost in their pre-quarterfinal bouts while Deepak lost in the qualification round.

Gurpreet defeated Alvis Albino Almendra Jimenez of Panama 10-2 in the round of 16 to advance, but could not get the better of American star Andrew Thomas Bisek, who beat him 6-4. Bisek is a U.S Open and pan Amercian Games Champion. The loss led to Gurpreet’s exit from the tournament.

Hardeep was impressive in his 10-1 victory against Jahongir Turdiev of Uzbekistan in the round of 16 but was thoroughly outmatched by Alin Alexuc-Ciurariu of Romania 0-9 in the pre-quarterfinal. Deepak was cruched 0-16 by Vladimiros Matias of Greece in the qualifying round.

The Indian compaign was dealt a double blow when two of the country’s best wrestlers, Sushil Kumar and Yogeshwar Dutt, withdrew from participation due to injury. Two-time Olympic medallist Sushil Kumar is nursing a shoulder injury while Dutt’s longtime knee injury is back to haunt him. Dutt will reportedly undergo surgery for his knee.

In the absence of the two wrestlers, India’s charge will now be led by Narsingh Yadav in the 74kg category and giving him company will be Amit Kumar in the 57kg category, Bajrang in the 61 kg event, Arun in the 70kg event, Sumit Kumar in the 125 kg event and Naresh in the 86 kg category.The Women’s contingent will be led by Geeta Phogat and Babita Kumari and Vinesh Phogat.

Greco-Roman wrestling is not India’s forte. It’s heyday was way back in 1962 Asian Games when a few medals were won by Indian wrestlers. Indian Freestyle wrestling has seen something of a resurgence in the last few years, with Sushil Kumar and Yogeshwar Dutt winning Olympic medals and female wrestlers Geeta Phogat, Vinesh Phogat and Babita Kumari winning medals in the Commonwealth Games.