We have gone past two-thirds of the 2016 Olympics and India, the country with the world’s second-largest population in the world, is still on the lookout for its first medal. Despair and anger seem to be getting the better of Indian sports fans all over. Some justified and some not so.
Only a handful of athletes are left for India, and the nation is now hedging her bets on the men and women from the dangals and sand pits of Haryana, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh.
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This rugged sport, which is gradually gaining a space in the conscience of the ever growing Indian sporting populace, has already created some never before achieved milestones even before any of the grapplers set their feet on the mats at Rio.
1) 3 medals over the last two Olympics courtesy the immense skills of Sushil Kumar and Yogeshwar Dutt.
2) 3 medals in the 2013 World Championships and a bronze in last year’s edition.
3) Largest contingent of 8 have qualified from Men/Women Freestyle and also from the classic style – Greco-Roman.
4) 2 Greco-Roman grapplers from the 85 and 98 kg categories, Ravinder Khatri and Hardeep Singh.
5) 3 freestyle grapplers from the Men's Section – Sandeep Tomar – 57 kg, Yogeshwar Dutt – 65 kg and Narsingh Yadav – 74 kg
6) Most notably 3 Women grapplers – 48 kg Vinesh Phogat, 53 kg Babita Phogat and 58 kg Sakshi Malik.
Vinesh Phogat
The youngest wrestler ever to qualify from India, Vinesh is from the now famous first family of Indian women’s wrestling, the Phogats.
Diminutive in stature and very tenacious, Vinesh first broke onto the international scene at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games 2014 and despite her inexperience won the title quite comfortably. This was followed up with a highly creditable bronze at the Asian Games with her only loss in the event, that too an extremely narrow one, coming at the hands of top Japanese contender Eri Tosaka who went on to with the title.
Also read: Vinesh Phogat - 10 things to know about the wrestling star
At Incheon, she had defeated a strong North Korean Yongmi Pak before simply dismantling her Uzbek and Mongolian opponents. A silver at the Asian Championships followed in early 2015 and predictably a narrow loss to another Japanese Yuki Irie.
The road to Rio was anything but smooth
After threatening to be Asia’s best and a subsequent rise in world rankings, Vinesh’s performance dipped, with a 1st round loss at the Vegas World Championships which was Rio’s first qualifying tournament.
Subsequent below par performances at this year’s Asian Championships and the Asian qualifiers was followed by the shocking disqualification at the 1st world qualifiers which would have mentally scarred most young athletes.
In the context of such embarrassment and humiliation, Vinesh stuck her neck out by promising Olympic qualification to WFI bosses, failing which she was willing to face disciplinary action.
World qualifiers
How magnificently she fought these qualifiers is seen to be believed. Her five opponents never stood any chance in the face of a barrage of single and double leg attacks from the Indian.
Her own vulnerability, to such leg attacks, was banished into the realms of history. Improved upper body strength, something quite evident in her standing position wrestling during the World qualifiers.
Of the 3 weight categories having Indian participation, Vinesh’s is the lightest, but that in no way makes the task easy for this Olympic debutante.
Of the 20 wrestlers vying for honours at Rio, the top contenders would be the Japanese Tosaka, Maria Stadnik from Azerbaijan, Blaszka from Netherlands and of course the Chinese Sun Yanan.
Stadnik, currently the world silver medallist behind Tosaka, is the most experienced of the lot.
Coming into her third Olympics, the Ukranian-born Azerbaijani, won bronze at Beijing and Silver at London. A medallist in each of the last 4 four world championships that she has participated in, including the 2009 title, we know we are dealing with one of the best.
With just 5 seconds left on the clock, Stadnik had one hand on the 2015 World Title in the grasp, until she fell prey to a single leg takedown to the ever persistent Tosaka at the last Worlds.
Tosaka, brings to this weight category, what Saori Yoshida and Kaori Icho bring to the 53 and 58 kg categories – invincibility, something that is the hallmark of most female wrestlers from the ‘Land of the Rising Sun’.
This tiny 5 feet pocket Hercules, is a three-time defending world champion and has no obvious weakness in her game. There could be some hope for her opponents at Rio, as Stadnyk and the Canadian Morrison Haley ran her close at the last worlds.
Uneasy is the head that wears the crown
Probably of greater interest would be, Tosaka’s 4-5 loss to Sun Yanan at the Asian Championships this year. There were moments in the match when Tosaka looked pretty helpless.
The Chinese has replaced Li Hui, the Olympic quota winner. Sun normally fights at 51 kg and that’s where she won the 2013 worlds title too. Extremely aggressive on the mat, Sun uses her hands extremely well to control her opponents.
The Dutch woman, Blaszka is the current World bronze medallist but does not possess the credentials of the big three detailed so far.
Come D-day Vinesh will not die wondering
For someone who hesitated stepping into the wrestling pit, Vinesh has come a long way. A confident individual, never afraid to speak her mind, this young grappler has already achieved what very few Indian sportsmen have achieved over their entire careers.
Armed with an attitude that has evolved, from a blind belief that she could never lose, to someone who is quick to learn from her mistakes and even admonish herself publicly, Vinesh would only have benefitted from her disqualification at the World qualifiers and more recently her early loss at the Spanish Grand Prix.
Just how beneficial we will know soon!!
