Wrestling: India
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Wrestling: India
Indian achievers at World Championships
1967 New Delhi:
Bishamber Singh (57kg silver)
2009 Denmark:
Ramesh Kumar (74kg bronze)
2010 Moscow:
Sushil Kumar (66kg gold)
2012 Canada:
Geeta Phogat (55kg bronze),
Babita Kumari (51kg bronze)
2013 Budapest:
Amit Kumar (55kg silver),
Bajrang (60kg bronze),
Sandeep Tulsi Yadav (66kg bronze)
Greco-Roman wrestling in India
Sandeep's bronze gives hope to ignored Greco-Roman
Ritu Sejwal, TNN | Sep 24, 2013
Greco-Roman is backed by a rich history in the Olympics, being the first style to be introduced in 1896 Athens Olympics. In India, where akharas are the heart of the sport and dangals its soul, Greco-Roman, also referred to as the European style, is yet to cement its place in the country.
Sandeep Tulsi Yadav's bronze medal at Budapest in Sept 2013 was the first in World championship for India in Greco-Roman wrestling.
Gyan Sehrawat, a Greco-Roman chief coach from 1996-2006, feels Yadav's medal will give a boost to this style. "The medal will change the psychology from just participating to winning medals, at least in the Olympics and World championships. Most of the talent in India gets attracted to freestyle. Greco requires upper body strength and flexibility and is more popular worldwide," Sehrawat, who is the chief coach and a sports officer with the Northern Railways, told TOI.
"This style is not practised at any club in India. It was as late as 1986 that a separate Greco team was selected. Till then, the freestyle team would participate in both the styles," he added.
Gyan himself participated as a freestyle grappler in 1982 Asian Games and as a Greco grappler in his next Asian Games in 1986.
"Even now, 99% of the coaches in India are not familiar with Greco techniques. Even the National Sports Institute in Patiala's curriculum for coaches focuses on freestyle. Indian wrestling is to do with mitti and that's why freestyle is more popular," he said. "There is only one tournament in a year dedicated to Greco," he pointed out.
Foreign coaches
Indian wrestling's lone entry at the Sydney Olympics, Gurbinder Singh, holds the system responsible for the style's lack of popularity. "We spend so much money on getting foreign coaches for Greco-Roman but they don't train our wrestlers properly and never tell then their weaknesses. All they do is teach a technique and then say 'you know nothing'. There is no dearth of diet, money and promotion. It's the system which is a problem," Gurbinder, became a DSP with Punjab police, said.
Belarus' Rudnisky was Greco-Roman's first foreign coach. There have been only three foreign coaches - including the current coach Georgia's Emzar Makharadze - since then while freestyle has had more than seven coaches. "It was in 1987, when we got our first foreign coach. It was under him that a separate Greco camp and national meet was organized. There is only one akhara in Faridkot dedicated to Greco-Roman, the ones in Delhi and Haryana practice freestyle," Gurbinder said.
Gurbinder said about Sandeep’s triumph: "The change in rule has favoured the Indians, who are used to 'standing wrestling' due to the weather. Earlier there was more ground style which would benefit the Russians."
