Eyeing Olympic berth, Indian wrestlers to reach Almaty hours before start

CHENNAI: Eyeing Olympic berths, travel fatigue and sleep deprivation could be the biggest hurdles for India’s women wrestlers to overcome when they take the mat in Almaty, Kazakhstan during the Asian Olympic Games Qualifier on Saturday.

Unavailability of air tickets meant, all the five women wrestlers along with three freestyle male grapplers and other support staff could leave the country only on Friday morning. What added to their woes was a long layover in Tashkent. This will mean that the women wrestlers will reach the venue in the morning, just two-and-a-half hours before the start of the qualification bouts. The competition for the freestyle male wrestlers is scheduled for Sunday.

“They will reach Almaty in the morning and have to take mat within a couple of hours,” a parent of one of the women wrestlers told this daily. Only Vinesh Phogat (53kg) has booked an Olympic berth among the women wrestlers from India so far. Seema Bisla (50kg), Anshu Malik (57kg), Sonam Malik (62kg), Nisha Dahiya (68kg) and Pooja Sihag (76kg) will compete in the Asian qualifier on Saturday.

“Six Greco-Roman wrestlers along with three referees and coach Hargobind Singh left for Almaty a couple of days ago. Other members of the Indian contingent left on Friday morning. This happened as tickets were not available due to a lesser number of flights because of Covid-19 pandemic,” Vinod Tomar, assistant secretary of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) told this daily.

Late arrival of foreign coach
Ironically India’s foreign Greco-Roman coach Temo Kazarashvili will reach Almaty on Saturday, a day after his wards failed to secure Olympic berths. He also accompanied the women and male freestyle wrestlers. “We decided to send Hargobind with the team for the competition. Temo will be with the wrestlers during the Asian Championships which is scheduled in Almaty from April 13 to 18,” said Tomar.
All the six spots were up for grabs in the Greco-Roman category and Indian wrestlers have to reach finals in order to make an Olympic cut. However, none of them could reach the summit clash with Ashu (67kg) and Gurpreet Singh (77kg) finishing with a bronze medal each.