India men freestyle wrestlers touch new low

Amman: Even as the women wrestlers created history and won the team title by clinching five gold medals at the U17 World Championships in Amman, Jordan a few days back, their male counterparts touched a new low at the venue by finishing without any medal. In the event where India have been winning at least a couple of medals in men’s freestyle wrestling since 2018, the recent show should ring alarm bells for authorities concerned including the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) and Sports Authority of India (SAI).

The Indian women got the better of wrestling heavyweights Japan to lift the historic team championship. Given their show, expectations were high from the men freestyle wrestlers. The title might have been a far-fetched aspiration but a few medals were definitely expected. Unfortunately, it was not to be. Among the 10 participants from the country, only Jaspooran Singh managed to reach the bronze medal play-off only to lose it late on Saturday night. Similarly, Vevik got a chance to stake his claim over the 80kg bronze but he lost the repechage round to go out of contention.