Need improved facilities if we want medals at Olympics: Wrestler Vinesh
Phogat, India’s medal hope in Asian Games wrestling, feels a lot more needs to be done for athletes if the authorities expect medals at the Olympics.
The two-time Commonwealth Games champion was recently attending a training camp at SAI centre in Lucknow where the facilities, according to her, were not up to the mark. “The quality of food is fine but a lot more change is needed. If you’re talking about Olympics then you’re required to give that kind of facility too. The wrestling hall there was so hot during summer that I had a problem in recovering after training. We train hard but when we can’t recover then chances of injury increase,” said the 23-year-old. “I had knee pain and could’ve had an injury. I also had to skip training at times. There was no electricity at times too. We kept telling the authorities. The Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) takes care of us and they were also angry; why their athletes don’t get proper facilities. They tried to get in touch with the people concerned.”
Asked who is to blame, Vinesh said: “Improvement has to come from all sectors. Every person has to own up responsibility and work with others. If players can’t recover from training, then injuries can happen. If we get injured ahead of important events, it is the biggest loss.”
Vinesh, who had won bronze at the 2014 Incheon Games, trained in Hungary and is confident ahead of the Jakarta Games, saying she has filled the gaps with the help of foreign coaches. “My preparation is very good. I went to Hungary for training and have overcome the deficiencies and small mistakes that I was making. To try myself out, I took part in the Spanish Grand Prix where I won gold so I’m happy with the result. The result of training in Hungary will show in the Asian Games,” said Vinesh during a send-off ceremony of Indian wrestlers.
“Foreign coaches plan for long term. They plan each day how to train 10 days before a competition and 20 days after. I discussed what I lacked, power, speed, stamina, strategy. I worked on my speed. My weight category (50kg) is fast and they attack so fast that you don’t understand where they come from and go.”
Vinesh and colleagues will face the toughest competition from Japanese and Chinese wrestlers at Asian Games but the Indian is prepared for the test. “The Japanese are Olympic and world champions, the Chinese are Olympic medallists too. For me, this is no less than an Olympics. I am thinking of every bout and have strategised according to the opponents,” said Vinesh.