Narsingh becomes first Indian wrestler to qualify for Rio Olympics

Narsingh sealed an Olympic spot with a medal win

The coda of this year’s World Wrestling Championships in Las Vegas, USA, saw Narsingh Pancham Yadav seize India’s only medal in the event, thereby securing a berth in the 2016 Rio Olympics. Narsingh was the saving grace in an otherwise pathetic showing by the Indian wrestling contingent.

Narsingh put on consistently good performances en route to a bronze medal. He comprehensively beat Israeli wrestler Hanoc Rachamin 14-2, ground out a narrow 4-3 win against Turk Soner Demirtas and dominated Cuban Livan Lopez Azcuy 16-5 as he battled his way to the semifinal, where he could not get past Mongolian Olympian Unurbat Purevjav. Narsingh grabbed the opportunity for a bronze medal with both hands, as he defeated Zelimkhan Khadjiev of France 12-8.

The Mumbai-based grappler has won bronzes in the 2014 Asian Games and the 2015 Asian Championships. With his recent victory, Narsingh became the first Indian wrestler in history to qualify for the Olympics with a medal win in the World Championships. The significance of this victory is indubitable, but it does raise questions about who will represent India in this weight category in next year’s Olympics. Two-time Olympic medal winner Sushil Kumar has moved up to 74 Kg, which is the division he won a gold medal in at the 2014 Commonwealth Games. The veteran has been sidelined with an injury for a year and is regarded as the frontrunner for India’s Olympic wrestling aspirations. Olympic regulations dictate that spots secured are for a nation, not specifically for the athletes who assure them.

Three other Indian wrestlers – Amit Kumar (57kg), Arun Kumar (70kg) and Sumit (125kg), fell on the last day. Amit Kumar beat Sezar Akgul 6-4 to qualify, but lost 1-2 Viktor Lebedev to be knocked out. Arun Kumar progressed a step further to the quarterfinal by beating Tat Du Can of Vietnam 7-0 and Ukrainian Semen Radulov 5-4, before being ousted by American James Malcolm Green 0-10 . Sumit lost to Aiaal Lazarev of Kyrgyzstan 0-3 in the round of 16.

The penultimate day saw Arjuna awardee Bajrang Kumar barely lose his bronze medal bid. Bajrang (61 Kg) began his campaign on a bad note, losing to Batbold Nomin of Mongolia 0-10 in the qualification round. But there was a silver lining as his vanquisher reached the semifinal, thereby granting Bajrang entry to the repechage round. The 2014 Commonwealth Games silver medallist beat American Reece Weslee Humphrey 6-0 and Georgian Beka Lomtadze 13-6, but his second wind wasn’t strong enough to topple Vasyl Shuptar of Ukraine.