Seniors struggle a bit but Greco Roman and junior wrestlers shine in 2022

Dec 24, 2022

NEW DELHI: They were expected to dominate the field at the Commonwealth Games and they did but the tougher World Championships served a reality check for the established Indian stars even as the rise of Greco Roman wrestlers and exceptional show by the juniors made it an eventful 2022 for Indian wrestling.

India won 12 medals at Birmingham CWG, where Sakshi Malik tried to resurrect her career by winning a gold but only Bajrang Punia and Vinesh Phogat returned with medals from the World Championships in Belgrade. The Greco Roman style, a poor cousin of free style wrestling in India, had a lot cheer with historic three-medal performance at the U-23 World Championships through Sajan Bhanwala, Nitesh and Vikas.

The juniors, both boys and girls, emerged serious medal contenders in age group competitions across globe, something which Indian wrestling witnessed for the first time. The rise of Antim Panghal, who became U-20 world champion in Sofia, is very heartening as she could be India's best bet in 53kg when Vinesh Phogat would not be around.