India All Set to Perform at the Wrestling World Championships

The World wrestling championship 2018 is scheduled to be held in Budapest, Hungary from October 20 to 28. This time India will be represented by a strong team of 30 players. The team shall be led by Olympic medalist Sakshi Malik and Asian Games gold medalist Bajrang Punia. The selection authorities have selected 10 members each in free-style, Greco-Roman and women are wrestling categories.

While Bajrang (65kg) is India’s best bet in the freestyle category, Sakshi (62kg) and Commonwealth Games gold Pooja Dhanda (57kg) medalist will spearhead India’s campaign in the women’s wrestling. This time the freestyle team is being coached by Jagminder Singh and Kuldeep Malik will be in charge of the women’s squad. Apart from the 30 wrestlers, the Indian contingent will also have 17 officials including coaches, physio, masseur and referees. The team has already left for Budapest where they will have pre-tournament conditioning camp ahead of the main event. Out of the Phogat sisters, only Ritu is to feature in the squad as Geeta and Babita did not attend the trials while Asiad gold medalist Vinesh has been ruled out with an elbow injury. The team and the coach Kuldeep Malik are both extremely excited for the tournament. The coach stated that the girls have worked hard. They will put in the best of their efforts and will leave no stone unturned to bring medals for India. Our focus this time is clearly on the technique. On the other hand even the Men’s freestyle coach Jagminder Singh seemed extremely confident and enthusiastic. He stated that he is not sure about the number of medals that they will bring home but they are sure that they will definitely bring home a few. He further added that the boys have worked hard and their hard work shall be visible through their performance during the tournament. The freestyle team includes: Sandeep Tomar (57kg), Sonba Tanaji Gongane (61kg), Bajrang Punia (65kg), Pankaj Rana (70kg), Jitender (74kg), Sachin Rathi (79kg), Pawan Kumar (86kg), Deepak (92kg) Mausam Khatri (97kg), Sumit (125kg), Jagminder Singh (Chief Coach). The women’s team is as follows: Ritu Phogat (50kg), Pinki (53kg), Seema (55kg), Pooja Dhanda (57kg), Sangeeta (59kg), Sakshi Malik (62kg), Ritu (65kg), Navjot Kaur (68kg), Rajini (72kg), Kiran (76kg), Kuldeep Malik (Chief Coach). The Greco Roman team is as follows: Vijay (55kg), Gyanender (60kg), Gaurav Sharma (63kg), Manish (67kg), Kuldeep Malik (72kg), Gurpreet Singh (77kg), Harpreet Singh (82kg), Manjeet (87kg), Hardeep (97kg), Naveen (130kg), Kuldeep Singh (Chief Coach).

By: Anuja Arora

Content: https://indianexpress.com/article/sports/sport-others/30-member-strong-team-to-represent-india-at-wrestling-world-championships-5392429/