Big fight: Geeta, Sakshi face-off likely in senior Nationals

Gaurav Kanthwal

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 12

“Rukna nahi hai,” that was the one-liner Geeta Phogat’s on-screen father, Aamir Khan, spoke to her in the movie Dangal. And she’s certainly not stopping. Two years after fading away from the international wrestling scene due to injuries and indifferent form, the Dhakad girl is back on the mat. And she has thrown her challenge at none other than Sakshi Malik, the Rio Olympics bronze medallist. Geeta has announced that she will be contesting in the 62kg weight category in the upcoming Senior Nationals in Gonda (UP) from November 29 to December 2. Geeta emerged victorious in the 62kg category in the Haryana State Wrestling Championship in Sonepat on Saturday.

“I am trying to make a comeback in the 62kg category in the senior Nationals. Let us see how things turn out,” she said.

The 29-year-old was last seen in action during the third Bharat Kesri Dangal in Bhiwani in March this year, when she lost to Divya Kakran of UP in a one-sided bout. At the Nationals, Geeta will be representing Haryana while Sakshi is expected to turn up for Railways. 

The duo, who have competed against each other in the 57kg  and 62 kg category in the past, will be renewing their professional rivalry after a long time. It was Phogat who defeated Sakshi in the 2010 Commonwealth Games trials and went on to win the gold.

Both the wrestlers have been struggling for form in the recent past. While Geeta’s performance has been affected by injury and disciplinary issues, Sakshi has failed to live up to her reputation since her Rio feat.

Chief national coach (women) Kuldeep Singh Malik said: “In women’s wrestling, the difference in weight is very less in some categories, so it is easy for wrestlers to shift weight categories according to their convenience. Sakshi and Geeta are expected to face each other in the senior Nationals.”

USA calling

Some elite Indian wrestlers have dropped hints that Indian coaches are inferior to their foreign counterparts, but USA Wrestling disagrees. 

Coach Kuldeep Singh Malik was recently invited by USA Wrestling for a short stint with the elite US women wrestlers but the Railways coach politely declined the offer. “USA Wrestling had sent e-mails to me, inviting me for a 10-day stint with their wrestlers from December 7 to 17. But we have our Nationals lined up here in December so it was not feasible,” he said, adding that “as a national coach it doesn’t look good to be training foreign wrestlers for money’s sake. Acha nahi lagta.” 

The USA women wrestlers finished overall third, with 1 gold, 1 silver and 2 bronze, in the recently-held Budapest World Wrestling Championships. The decision of USA Wrestling to invite an Indian coach for a training stint can probably be explained by India’s rising stock on the international scene. 

Recently, five Indian women wrestlers made it to the top-10 in their weight categories in the global rankings.