Wrestler Neha Tomar fails to repeat feat

Vikas Sharma

Advertisement

Tribune News Service

Jammu, April 24

The historic bout between Uttarakhand woman wrestler Neha Tomar and her male opponent Rajinder of J&K ended in a few seconds with the latter winning with utmost ease during the 2nd Jhiri Kesari Indian Style Dangal 2017 here yesterday.

More than 40,000 people stormed the Devsthan Jhiri to witness the much-awaited match. In her previous feat, Neha defeated Lucknow wrestler Nawab in barely five minutes at an event in October last year. However, the wrestler failed to repeat the performance at the historic event in J&K that witnessed the participation of women wrestlers in the traditional competition for the first time.

There was a long queue on the road leading to the venue as enthusiastic people from different areas, including young girls and women, jostled to enter the arena.

Meanwhile, the security arrangements made by the district administration for the event were insufficient. The excited crowd was not in a mood to listen to the instructions of the policemen deployed at the venue. As a result, the event had to be stopped many times by the organisers.

“Without any doubt, this was a historical moment for the state as for the first time women wrestlers exhibited their prowess. Though Neha lost the match but the wrestling competition was a hit. It will definitely go a long way in providing opportunities to women wrestlers of the state to prove their worth at higher levels of the game,” said Shamsher Singh, a resident of Jhiri.

However, in the main bout, wrestler Sabha of Amritsar defeated Hiteshwar of Haryana to emerge victorious. A cash prize of Rs 90,000 was given to the winning wrestlers along with traditional “Gurj” while the runner-up wrestler received a cash prize of Rs 60,000.