World Wrestling Championships medal winners honoured

India’s Amit Kumar (L) who won silver at the recent World Wrestling Championships in Budapest, Hungary

World Wrestling Championship silver medallist Amit Kumar and bronze medal winners, Bajrang and Sandeep Tulsi Yadav, were all felicitated yesterday by the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI), as reported by TOI. Amit received Rs. 5 lakh from the WFI while Bajrang and Sandeep each received Rs. 3 lakh.

The three wrestlers, who returned home from Budapest, Hungary with India’s best ever medal haul, had a special felicitation ceremony organised for them by the WFI. Olympic medallists Sushil Kumar and Yogeshwar Dutt were also present on the occasion.

Amit and Bajrang claimed medals in the 55kg and 60kg freestyle category respectively while Sandeep won India’s first ever medal in the Greco Roman style at the senior world event.

“Our wrestlers are taking rapid strides at international events. And three medals at the world event is testament to that fact. They have proved that we have very strong bench strength after Sushil (Kumar) and Yogeshwar (Dutt). We wish to have medal contenders in each of the weight in all three styles for the Rio Olympics,” WFI President Brij Bhushan Singh said.

“We were worried about Greco Roman wrestling earlier as we never got any medal in it. But with Sandeep bagging bronze, I feel the traditional style will get a new lease of life in India. Young people will look forward to emulating him,” he said.

Rana Tiwari, an NRI, has come forward to support the sport after looking at the rapid strides made by Indian wrestling in the last few years and has managed to collect donations from the United States.

“I feel very proud with the performances of our wrestlers. There are Indian wrestling fans in US who would like to contribute for further promotion of the sport here. I promise to create a fund for wrestlers which will be utilised to nurture talent in India,” NRI Rana Tiwari said.

The WFI also made use of the occasion as a platform to reach out to corporate houses to come forward and show their support for upcoming wrestlers.

“Indian wrestlers have the potential to strike big at the Rio Olympics. For that they need further support of sponsors. I urge corporate houses to help take the sport forward in the country,” Singh said.