ALL EYES ON VINESH, SAKSHI AT WRESTLING NATIONALS

GONDA, UP: The spotlight trained on them, Vinesh Phogat will get an opportunity to test her fitness while a struggling Sakshi Malik will look to re-invent herself in the absence of the male stars at the Tata Motors Wrestling Nationals, beginning here from Friday.

Vinesh was forced to skip the World Championship in Budapest due to a last-minute elbow injury. She was in imperious form following the historic goldwinning effort at the Jakarta-palembang Asian Games.

Vinesh is one of the most formidable athletes and if she is fit, it is highly unlikely she could be troubled by any of her compatriots. The Railways athlete will compete in the 57kg instead of the 50kg category in which she won three gold medals this season.

“For Nationals I won’t reduce weight. The competition here won’t be very strong and I have several important tournaments coming up in the next few months, so I have to be consistent in maintaining (weight) for those event,” Vinesh told PTI when asked about the change in her weight category.

The 24-year-old said it is important to compete at Nationals because she lost a lot of time after the Asian Games due to the injury.

“Now I have a chance to restart with the Nationals. I won’t say it is warm-up for me but it is good if I get into some competitions before bigger tournaments ahead. It helps on getting that mindset,” she said.

She remains favourite for the gold but Vinesh says she can’t name any strong opponent.

“I know lot of wrestlers from the senior camp but there will be lot of juniors competing for the first time. I don’t know many of them, so I have to see how it goes,” she said, adding that her hunger for success only got stronger after injuries halted her progress.

In complete contrast, Sakhi’s career graph has taken a nosedive after her historic bronze medal at the Rio Olympic Games.

The 62kg will be a battle between Sakshi and the celebrated Geeta Phogat, who has lost a bit of her sting of late.