Eye on Olympic qualifiers, WFI draws up elaborate plan

Sabi Hussain

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, January 28

The wrestling arena has been a happy hunting ground for India at the Olympics as the country boasts of four medals from the quadrennial event. Apart from two-time medallist Sushil Kumar and London Games bronze winner Yogeshwar Dutt, legendary KD Jadhav won a bronze in the 1952 Helsinki Olympics.

Keeping up with the rising profile of the sport, the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) has worked out an elaborate plan to increase the country’s medal prospects at the 2016 Rio Olympics.

According to WFI secretary general Raj Singh, the national federation has decided to invite teams from the world’s top wrestling nations to practise with the Indian freestyle and greco-roman grapplers, keeping an eye on the Olympic qualifiers.

“We have invited Georgia’s freestyle and greco-roman teams in March-April to visit the Sonepat camp and practise with our grapplers. We have also promised to send our teams to their country as part of the exchange programme. We are in talks with other major wrestling nations for a similar training programme and most of them have shown keen interest,” Singh told The Tribune.

Singh informed that the international teams would be called one month prior to the start of an international tournament and their expenses would be borne out of the budget earmarked under the Annual Calendar for Training and Competition (ACTC).

“We have already sent the proposal to the Sports Ministry to host international teams. The Ministry has agreed to our proposal. There would be six Olympic qualifiers in 2015-16, starting with the World Championships in Las Vegas in September and we want our grapplers to represent the country in all the weight categories,” he said.

Singh said the freestyle and greco-roman teams would depart for Las Vegas one month in advance to get acclimatised to the playing conditions. “We will send them in early August to participate in a training-cum-competition camp with the USA team. A good showing in the World Championships would set the tone for other qualifiers ahead.”

In another first, the WFI will send an Indian chef to Las Vegas to prepare homemade dishes for the participating wrestlers. “There had been instances where wrestlers complained of non-availability of Indian food or were hit by the stomach bug. To avoid such a situation, we have decided to send a trained chef with the team,” said Singh.