‘Women wrestlers ready for gold rush’
LUCKNOW:Wrestler Navjot Kaur, gold medalist of Asian championship, has a strong feeling of unity among the Indian women team members and she keeps on thinking about everyone’s success.
She still feels hurt about the gold medal loss of Asian Games gold medalist Vinesh Phogat in the last championship at Bishkek in Kyrgyzstan by a whisker in 2018, but wants Phogat and others to return home this time with gold medals.
“I could still remember the loss of Vinesh last time in the final, but this time things would be different for all of us in China as we all are ready to win the gold in our respective categories,” Navjot said soon after finding her name in the teams’ list for the championship to be held from April 23-28.
“Winning medal is very important for all of us and it’s a good opportunity for us to test our skills before the Olympics qualifying as we will have to compete against the same set of wrestlers in the qualifying too,” said Navjot, who is the first Indian women to win a gold in the Senior Asian Championship last year.
“It was like a dream come true for me as I wasn’t expecting this. I was focused on my game plan and I didn’t want to commit any mistake against Japan’s Miya Imai before winning by 9-1,” said Navjot, who had a silver medal at the Asian Championships in 2013 and a bronze medal in 2014 Commonwealth Games in 67kg category.
Navjot, who is known for her strong defence, accepted that the presence of a foreign coach with the team has boosted the confidence of women wrestlers this time.
“The foreign coach (USA’s Andrew Cook) has been a great help to women wrestlers. His training style, as well as techniques are different. We all have been practicing hard under him and hope to have a good haul of medals this time,” she said.
Navjot, however, refused to accept that being the defending champion in the 65-kg category she has any extra pressure on her.
“There was no pressure when I had my gold at the last championship, and I feel that playing without pressure isn’t possible. There is nothing extraordinary. I just tell myself that if it was the last time then why not this time?” she said.
“Repeat of a gold medal at China’s event would help me continue my aim to win a place in the Indian squad for the 2020 Olympics (Tokyo). I keep on dreaming about a gold medal at Olympics even when I am sleeping, eating etc.,” she said.
Meanwhile, the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) on Sunday announced men team also after conducting trials at Sonepat.