The 'undercooked' Indian women wrestlers head to World Championships

By: WE Staff | Wednesday, 29 September 2021

Indian women’s wrestling team will be entering the big-ticket competition in Oslo for the World Championships in Norway scheduled from October 2 to 10 without any serious preparedness.

Olympian Sarita Mor (59 kg), Divya Kakran (72 kg), Anshu Malik (57 kg) and Sangeeta Phohat (62 kg) will be representing the country at the Worlds, but the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) has no idea about the possible injury issues and team’s readiness.

The preparatory camp organised by the WFU at the Indira Gandhi Indoor (IGI) stadium saw none of the selected wrestlers, except for Sarita.

“Sarita did not join the camp at the IGI but returned to train at the local akhada in her hometown after realising none of the other selected wrestlers have reported to the venue,” a senior WFI official said

After a selection trial on August 31, the men’s and women’s teams for the Worlds in the freestyle and Greco-Roman categories were selected. The Indian party will leave from the IGI airport on September 30.

The camp for the women wrestlers was scheduled to start from September 5 at the SAI centre in Lucknow. Afterwards, it was postponed to September 15, and the camp was shifted to the IGI stadium with a reporting date of September 20. None of the wrestlers reported to the camp and continued training at their respective akhadas under the guidance of their coaches.

Therefore, the wrestlers will be leaving for the championships without any serious practice sessions. If someone is carrying an injury, the blame would lie with the federation. Among the seven Olympians, only Anshu is part of the wrestling squad. Deepak Punia, Sonam Malik, Bajrang Punia and Semma Bisla have been nursing injuries and Ravi Dahiya pulled out due to lack of preparation. Vinesh Phogat is suffering from health issues.