Greco-Roman help for India’s medals tally
India has traditionally done well in wrestling at the Commonwealth Games.
A form of wrestling that is traditionally not popular in Commonwealth countries is boosting India’s medals tally with its introduction in the Commonwealth Games.
Greco-Roman wrestling,which is a regular feature at the Olympics and Asian Games,does not allow wrestlers to hold opponents below the waist and is technically very different to freestyle wrestling.
The style has been introduced in this edition of the Commonwealth Games by the local organizing committee,and host nation India has seized the opportunity by claiming four of the seven gold medals decided and either silver or bronze in the remaining three.
India’s chief national coach Hargobind Singh agreed Wednesday that “the introduction of Greco-Roman wrestling in these games has been a boon for us.”
It not only boosted the chances of competitors in this form,Singh said,but was also expected to give an impetus to wrestling as a whole in the country.
“It is a wonderful opportunity to gain international exposure in
Greco-Roman events and for our wrestlers to do well in other top level competitions too,” he said.
India has traditionally done well in wrestling at the Commonwealth Games. Freestyle wrestling has been part of the games since 1930,though it was not included on the sports programs in 1990,1998 or 2006.
But once it was announced that Greco-Roman would be introduced here,it became an important factor as India targeted second place in the overall Commonwealth Games medals standings in 2010.
“The whole squad was preparing earnestly for this event because we knew we had a good chance here,” said Rajender Kumar,who clinched the 55 kilograms Greco-Roman gold without dropping a point in the competition.
India had identified wrestling as a major sport for these games two years ago and won as many as 14 medals at the Asian junior championship last year,increasing the selection pool by identifying more grapplers including several budding Greco-Roman athletes.
“The Commonwealth Games have given us the opportunity to compete in a major multidiscipline event while also providing us with home advantage here,” said Kumar,who beat Pakistan’s Azhar Hussain 5-0,6-0 in the final.
Singh said competition in Greco-Roman events was weak,allowing India to capitalize.
“Wrestlers in Commonwealth countries have yet to embrace this form. Kumar’s Pakistani opponent Hussain for instance,lacked tact and was nowhere in the match,” he said.
Hussain concedes that Greco-Roman events have not been a priority for them.
“I am primarily a freestyle wrestler and so am naturally happy to have won silver here,” said Hussain. “In fact,we don’t have any specialist Greco-Roman wrestler in our squad.”
India also won gold medals through Anil Kumar 96 kg,Sanjay Kumar 74 kg and Rajinder Singh 60 kg.
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