Continuing from where the baby-faced lady cadet wrestlers left, Indian men’s freestyle wrestlers hit the mat at the World Cadet Wrestling Championships at Tbilisi, Georgia today.
The wait for a medal was pretty short, as the unassuming Deepak Punia won gold in the 85 kg category. Deepak defeated 5 opponents from countries with rich wrestling traditions like Kyrgyzstan, Georgia, USA, Poland and Turkey.
As with most Indian wrestlers, Deepak lost out in inches to his Euro-American rivals but he made up for it with a heart of gold. His main challenges came from the extremely aggressive Georgian and the American, but excellent wrestling skills in the standing positions and good control of rival hands kept the Indian in good stead.
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Also noticeable, is the enormous stamina that he seems to possess. Barring the match against the American Varner, Punia looked good for another round.
But, greater speed would provide Deepak with more opportunities for single and double leg tackles, in the future, something missing from his armory now. He also seemed to lack ideas after takedowns, probably lacking core strength to make the gut wrench work.
His greatest asset is his temperament and never say die attitude.
Meanwhile, Saurabh in the 42 kg category, promised but could not deliver, as he blew hot and cold before collapsing like a pack of cards in his repechage encounter.
Starting off well against the Belarussian, the Indian ran the silver medallist from Azerbaijan real close in the quarters before losing by 2 points. While flexibility is not an issue, Saurabh lacks the strength for executing the bigger moves to get himself out of hopeless situations and ,there were quite a few such situations during the day.
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Facing an Iranian early in the game is always tough, but Vishal Kaliramana, India’s wrestler in the 69 kg category faced this predicament. The India, though, was just not quick enough against Sajjad Gholami who had the added benefit of height too. Vishal had his moments but was not aggressive enough to capitalise on them.
Gholami gave him an opportunity for a shot at bronze, but passivity against the Armenian cost the Indian dearly. Vishal like most Indian wrestlers needs exposure to international competition.
So, at the end of the penultimate day, India has garnered 2 Golds, 1 Silver and 1 Bronze. Five more Freestyle Cadets take the mat on the final day of the Cadets World Championships.
Indian wrestling fans will be looking forward to additions to the medal tally.
