Wrestlers glad to be back, eye Tokyo spots
NEW DELHI: One can’t be blamed for mistaking the national wrestling championships, the first major domestic competition in an Olympic sport after a year, as a series of felicitation functions. The procession of dignitaries streaming into the newly inaugurated Noida Indoor Stadium was endless on Sunday. Turbans and shawls were wrapped on local leaders, administrators and ‘pehelwans’ through the day even as the main actors, the wrestlers, competed in two mats at the centre.
For the 250-odd participants, it was a new lifeline. They had people cheering for them from the stands but repeated appeals for wearing masks and social distancing had no takers. There were no marked zones, no biosecure area for wrestlers and coaches in the indoor arena. The only Covid rules followed were referees wearing face shields, and the wrestlers and coaches coming after a negative RT-PCR test. The Wrestling Federation of India has split the nationals— freestyle, Greco-Roman and women—to be held in different cities on different dates.
The euphoria at the two-day freestyle event appeared a celebration of the return of domestic competition, and end to the uncertainty that had loomed since last year’s lockdown. Their dream of qualifying for the Tokyo Olympics has been revived. “It was very important for internal competition to start.
We had no plans, no targets during the last one year,” says national champion Satyawart Kadian, India’s top contender for an Olympic berth in 97kg.
“We were not able to train with restrictions in place. Only those who had their partners could train in some akhada,” he adds.