The Poland Open Wrestling Ranking Series was the last major international event before the Tokyo Olympics. The ranking series was crucial as it helped wrestlers improve their rankings and also proved to be a testing ground ahead of the Tokyo Olympics slated for July 23. The competition also gave a glimpse into what can be expected at the sporting extravaganza this summer.
Tokyo Olympic-bound Ravi Dahiya, who will represent India in men's 57 kg freestyle, had a tough outing at the Poland Open. His shaky leg defense and lack of quality sparring partners were exposed in Warsaw. Ravi Dahiya had to settle for a silver medal.
He said he lacked the instinct to react to moves as his body struggled to keep up with the intensity of the bouts. He has now requested the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) for a foreign camp in Russia.
The Poland Open Ranking Series saw a new and aggressive Vinesh Phogat. The ace Indian female wrestler was in attacking mode from the word go, something which was not seen in her previous matches.
Vinesh Phogat would usually take her time before launching attacks but a message from her husband Somvir made her change her strategy. She said her body moved smoothly and expects it to perform the same way at the Tokyo Olympics.
The two of the deepest weight categories in women wrestling, 57 kg and 76 kg were both headlined by their respective Olympic champions. But surprisingly, both Helen Maroulis (57 kg) and Erica Wiebe (76 kg) failed to finish at the top of the podium. The two weight categories will see a number of wrestlers vying for the gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics.
While in 57kg, there are world medalists Odunayo Adekurayo and Irina Kurachkina, Olympic Champion Risako Kawai, and Asian champion Anshu besides Maroulis, to challenge for the title.
In 76 kg, on the other hand, Erica Wiebe faces stiff competition from two-time Olympic medalist Natalia Vorobyeva, four-time world medalist Aline Rotter-Focken and five-time world champion Adeline Gray.
Since the 2016 Rio Games, the 97kg has been a warzone for two Olympic champions, Abdulrashid Sadulaev (RUS) and Kyle Snyder (USA). The two giants have battled it out in three world championship finals in which the Russian tank leads 2-1.
But the rise of Mohammadhossein Askari (IRN) has now made it a three-way battlegroudn in 97 kg category. Ever since his comeback from a dope ban in 2019, Askari has been unstoppable. The Iranian wrestler has had a perfect run in all five competitions he has participated in since 2019.