Tokyo Olympics: Wrestlers Vinesh, Bajrang must grab opportunity

Rohit Mahajan

Bajrang Punia’s Olympics debut seems five years too late. In 2014, in the final moments of the 65kg freestyle final at the Incheon Asian Games, Punia’s mentor Yogeshwar Dutt seemed barely able to stand — he prevailed, however, by one point to take gold. His legs were weak and leaden, he felt completely drained. Was it time to end his career? But Dutt, not one to give up, continued, and went to the 2016 Rio Olympics as well — and was beaten thoroughly in the first round, ending up completely winded and dejected.

When Sushil Kumar ruled the 66kg division, Dutt was the top dog in the 60kg class — the category of the rising Punia. When the weight divisions were rejigged in 2014, Sushil moved up to the 74kg class and Dutt to 65kg. Dutt did win two major gold that year, at Asian and Commonwealth Games; however, in retrospect, it would appear that in 2016, in his 34th year, he should have let Punia take the 65kg division and go to Rio. On his part, Punia could not even think of challenging his guru — he made the sacrifice, though he doesn’t call it a sacrifice.

Punia has an impressive record since moving up a weight division after Dutt exited — a silver and bronze at the World Championships, two gold and two silver at the Asian Championships and gold at the Asian Games. Now an Olympics medal beckons: Among the three Indian men competing in Tokyo, the 27-year-old from Jhajjar is the best bet to climb the podium.

Leaving it late

Punia is a bit late to his first Olympics; funnily enough, leaving it late is a speciality with him — he’s a master comebacker, due to his strength, stamina and mental alertness even late into a bout, when it’s difficult to think straight. Eight years ago, the format of bouts was changed — from three rounds of two minutes each to two halves three minutes each. The total time remains six minutes, but the longer duration of continued action, before the single break in between, means stamina is crucial. Punia banks on it — he knows he can make a comeback late in the bout. However, it can backfire if the opponent has racked up points, as happened against elite wrestlers at the World Championships in 2018 and 2019.

Punia’s one serious concern would be the right knee injury he suffered last month at the Ali Aliyev tournament in Russia — he could not continue and forfeited his semifinal bout to Abdulmazid Kudiev. His coach, Shako Bentinidis, had said the injury was not serious and “there are no problems”. But Punia has been unable to train on the mat in full force. His competition in Tokyo is on August 6 and 7 — wrestling’s fans hope he’d be fine by then.

Vinesh back from the brink

After the fiasco at Rio — from where the wrestlers returned empty-handed after medals at the previous two Olympics — India have a good chance to bring two from Tokyo. Three Indian women had made the Olympics cut five years ago; the number is up to four now, and one among them is hot favourite for a medal. Vinesh Phogat had been stretchered off, in great pain, after suffering an injury in the quarterfinals of the 48kg category at Rio. Vinesh has won medals in various weight categories, but it’s clear, for her height, she’s most natural in the 53kg class. She won her first World Championships medal, a bronze, at the 2019 tournament in Nur Sultan; she’s also won gold at the Asian Championships in Almaty this year — though the footnote must mention that Japan’s women, the strongest in the world, were absent from this event due to contact with a Covid patient.

Vinesh herself was laid low with Covid last year and her training suffered a serious setback. She gradually came back to her normal training, but it was only in April that she said she was at 85% of her peak level. But Vinesh does know a thing or two about comebacks. She suffered a horrible scare when she got injured in Rio, fearing for her career. Recovery took a long time, and pain and frustration dogged her. It was a triumph, then, when she won gold in both Asian and Commonwealth Games in 2018 in the 50kg class.

“The journey to Tokyo has been long, bittersweet and difficult at times,” Vinesh, training in Hungary, wrote on social media last week. “The injury in Rio was easily one of the lowest moments in my career, and even had me questioning whether I would ever be able to wrestle again.” Now, however, she added, she is looking forward to “putting a smile on all your faces with my performance on the mat”.

Vinesh is seeded No. 1 in Tokyo, which means won’t face the best wrestlers before her third bout. The biggest threat is Japan’s Mayu Mukadia, who has beaten Vinesh thrice in three bouts. Mayu is lightning-quick and Vinesh can be vulnerable in defending against counterattacks. Beating Mayu on home turf would be Vinesh’s dream, and she has it in herself to make it come true.

Other contenders

Ravi Dahiya (57kg)

The Sonepat lad won bronze at the Nur Sultan World Championships in 2019 and gold in Asian Championships in 2020 and 2021.

In 2019, at age 22, he had beaten a European champion and a former world champion Yuki Takahashi to qualify for the Olympics. He’s set to become the third wrestler from his village, Nahari, to fight at the Olympics.

Dahiya could prove the surprise package in the wrestling squad — seeded fourth in Tokyo, he might clash with top-seeded Stevan Micic of Serbia in the semifinals. Dahiya has shown that he can bring down the big boys, and he knows that Tokyo could make him great.

Deepak Punia (86kg)

The 22-year-old Deepak Punia has shone in all categories coming up — gold at the Cadet World Wrestling Championships in 2016 and Junior World Wrestling Championships in 2019. He then reached the final of the senior World Championships in 2019 — but an injury prevented him from fighting the Iranian legend, Hassan Yazdanicharati. The Iranian, who won the 74kg gold in Rio de Janeiro, has been dominating the higher weight category, too; he beat Punia 10-0 in the final of this year’s Asian Championships! Yazdanicharati is too big a challenge right now, but Punia has shown that he can be the second best to the Iranian — and that’s no disgrace.

Sonam Malik (62kg)

The exciting teenager from Sonepat has beaten Sakshi Malik four times in a row — this underlines the potential of the youngsters who has been winning international medals since mid-teens. Born in a family of wrestlers, Sonam started early and picked up medals early.

All of 19, she has already suffered a horrible scare — four years ago, she soon after her first world cadet gold in Athens, she began to suffer regular pain in her right arm. The coaches thought the pain would go away, but it didn’t; then, suddenly, she lost control over the arm, and she was unable to practise and compete. She could not fight, but she didn’t rest — she worked to strengthen her legs. Then, four months on, she got back the movement in her arm. She started fighting and won gold in her first tournament back. The wins over Sakshi made her the numero uno in her weight category in India.

She has a low ranking for Tokyo, but she has the ability to spring a surprise.