Bajrang leads the group of new hope in World Cup

IT’S A pleasant late winter morning. A dozen orsowrestlersaregoingthroughtheirpunishingdrillsinsidethedimlylit‘sushilkumarand Yogeshwar Dutt Wrestling Hall’. But neither Sushil Kumar nor Yogeshwar Dutt are at the Sports Authority of India’s Sonepat centre.

They possibly never will be. An official announcement might not have been made yet, but it’s extremely unlikely that India’s two Olympic medallists will step on the wrestling mat again. For the first time in more than a decade, India began its Olympic cycle without two of its most decorated Olympians. India’s firststepinthepost-sushil-and-yogeshwarera will be in Iran at the World Cup.

Thetwodaysiniranwillbeatestforindia’s next gen, which — for good or bad — was always shielded by the veteran duo. Apart from being the flag-bearers, Sushil and Yogeshwar havealsobeenthetwopowercentresofindian wrestling. Almost inevitably, wrestlers from that generation — and the ones that followed immediately — aligned themselves to one of the two groups.

There has never been a lack of respect among them, they hugely admire each other’s pehelwani, but the generous sprinkling of akhara politics—the daav pench –addedtothe intrigue and altered equations among the wrestlers, including Sushil and Yogeshwar themselves.

So Bajrang, who learnt the finer aspects of wrestling at the Chhatrasal Stadium, home to Sushil, was taken under his wings by Yogeshwar in 2008. The future Olympic medallist had a huge impact on the then 14year-oldbajrangandthetwohavebeeninseparable since. “Bhai hai mera,” Yogeshwar once said of Bajrang, who sees it more as a ‘gurushishya’ (mentor-protégé) relationship. The shishyawouldalsomakealotofsacrifices.both competed in the same weight category. So for important tournaments, Bajrang would willingly take a step back and let Yogeshwar compete.later,whenthecategorieswerere-jigged by the international federation, Yogeshwar moved to 65kg and Bajrang went up by a kilo to 61. But it wasn’t his preferred category. Wheneveryogeshwarwouldoptoutofatournament,bajrangwouldcompeteinthe65kg— but that was primarily at the Commonwealth Championships,whichlackedcompetition,or Asian-level tournaments.

First biggie

Attheworldstage,thiswillbebajrang’sfirst major tournament in 65kg. “It’s not that I haven’t learnt. Yogi would teach me a lot,” Bajrang says. “Now I have three years till the nextolympics.that’senoughtimetogetsome experiencein65kg.attheworldcup,i’llknow ifiamlackinginpower,stamina,technique…”

It’s not just here that Bajrang has been livinginsomeoneelse’sshadows.in2013,hewon a bronze medal at the World Championships inbudapest.butadaybefore,amitdahiyahad won a medal of a better colour. Bajrang and Dahiya are of the same age and began their career almost simultaneously at Chhatrasal. But Dahiya’s silver was India’s first World Championship medal since Sushil’s gold in 2010. That, and the Chhatrasal link, meant he was conveniently dubbed as the ‘next Sushil.’

Recognising his potential, the two-time Olympic medallist and his coach Satpal channelised their resources on Dahiya. So the akhara allegiances were informally drawn: Dahiya with Sushil and Bajrang with Yogeshwar. The rest simply joined one of the two camps depending on their comfort levels and some, mostly from Maharashtra, chose to stay aloof. On Thursday, the protégés will formallytakeoverthemantlefromtheirmentors asindianwrestlingdarestolookbeyondsushil andyogeshwar.attheworldcup,bajrangand Dahiya will be the two most experienced wrestlers in an Indian squad that barely inspires confidence.

For Bajrang, this will be a first world-level test in the 65kg category in which he is India’s undisputed best. But for Dahiya, the challenge is bigger. He made it to the squad only because of an injury to Utkarsh Kale, India’s favoured wrestler in the 57kg class.

In other weight categories, India will be repesented by Harphool in 61kg, Amit Dhankar in 70kg, Jitender in 74kg, Deepak in 86kg, Roublejit Singh Rangi in 97kg and Krishan in 125kg. India open their campaign againstmongoliaonthursdayfollowedbyiran in the second round and Turkey in the third.