After a stunning performance at the Commonwealth Games, Indian wrestlers failed to keep up with their momentum at the World Championships, winning only two bronze medals despite a strong 30-member delegation at the major event.

For the record, last year, India won two medals, one of which was silver. Expectations were high following the wrestlers’ sensational performance at CWG 2022, but the level of competition is much higher at Worlds and Indian wrestlers are seen struggling in the ring.

Bajrang Punia and Vinesh Phogat managed to save India’s blush with bronze medals (thanks to repechage), but the rest fell like skittles.

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An Indian Wrestling Federation (WFI) official, while speaking to IANS, attempted to justify the results diplomatically, saying “don’t demotivate our grappler”, but later admitted that “the show didn’t live up to it”.

The official further added that the federation understands the level of competition that exists at Worlds. “We won two bronze medals, which is also good in many ways. In fact, expectations are rising after our grappler has done well over the last few years.

“But that’s okay, we’re not going to demotivate them or scold them for their performance at the World Championships. We will continue to support them because they are the ones who step into the ring and face the opponent, we respect that. There have been disappointing results, such as the shock loss of Ravi Dahiya,” the official said.

There are also reports that some coaches have pointed the finger at the draft test schedule as the grappler has less time to prepare for big events.

To this, the official clarified, “We run national camps all year round. What preparations are we talking about? An important test for the best to represent India, we also believe in transparency. We gave a bye at some of the heavyweights, but that was also after thorough discussions with the coach and other officials looking at the level of competition in the respective heavyweights,” he added.

India has sent a delegation to compete in men’s and women’s Greco-Roman wrestling in the championship. Ten Indian wrestlers compete in each of the three divisions. Many wrestlers withdrew at an early stage, causing concern for WFI as well as wrestling fans in India.

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