For the first time ever the 2019 Senior National Wrestling Championships will be streamed live in India and its sub-continent. The main attractions are our star women wrestlers including World Championships bronze-medallist and India's biggest Tokyo Olympics medal hope Vinesh Phogat (55 kg) and Olympic medal winner Sakshi Malik (62 kg). The championships is scheduled to be held in Jalandhar, Punjab from November 29 to December 1, which will feature over 500 wrestlers vying for top honours, PTI reported.
The other promising wrestlers who will take up in the event are Divya Kakran (68 kg), Seema Bisla (50 kg), Sarita More (57 kg) and Navjot Kaur (65 kg). “This is yet another initiative to popularise the sport across all walks of alive. Live streaming of national championship will bring the best domestic wrestling action to the fans and wrestling fraternity and I appreciate this gesture and commitment of our commercial partners Sporty Solutionz for this,” Wrestling Federation of India president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh said in a statement.
Key Takeaways:
- Top wrestlers like Vinesh Phogat and Sakshi Malik will be the star attractions among the women in this year’s National Wrestling Championships, to be held here from November 29 to December 1
- The Championships will be streamed live in India and its sub-continent
- The other promising wrestlers who will take up in the event are Divya Kakran, Seema Bisla, Sarita More and Navjot Kaur
So, what is the main focus behind live streaming this prestigious event?
“It will help the next generation of Indian wrestlers understand how the sport is played at the top.”
The star that is Vinesh Phogat
After she bagged bronze at the World Wrestling Championships, and assured herself of an Olympic berth, grappler Vinesh Phogat occupied the number two spot in the world ranking charts in the 53kg weight category. This was Vinesh’s first world championship medal and this is also the first time she gains the status of world number two.
Going to Tokyo Olympics 2020
With eyes fixed on the Tokyo Olympics, Vinesh has sealed an Olympic berth in her 53kg weight category at the World Wrestling Championships this month. “It’s a relief because now I have a lot of time to prepare for the Olympics. And it’s a bronze only. I want to convert it to gold and also win the Olympic medal,” Vinesh Phogat had earlier said.
“I have won my quota for 53 kg for my country. I hope what I left incomplete in Rio, I will take in Tokyo. I am doing my best to win gold in Tokyo.”
Also Read: Vinesh Phogat Story, the Girl next door to Olympics 2020'
Sakshi Malik's performance not up to the mark so far
Sakshi Malik is a silver medallist at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, and the bronze medal winner at the 2015 Asian Wrestling Championships in Doha. At the Rio Olympics, she became the first Indian woman wrestler to win a medal. In 2017, she bagged gold at the Commonwealth World Championships but was knocked out in the first round of the World Wrestling Championship. Malik had been away from the podium for a while now. She couldn’t make a mark in CWG either.
Sakshi now hopes to change the colour of her medal at the Tokyo Olympics next year. “The preparations are all in place. I’ve just returned from training camps in Spain and Italy where there’s ample exposure since you find sparring partners with different styles and techniques,” said Sakshi, Firstpost reported.
READ: Navjot Kaur – First Indian Woman Wrestler To Clinch Asian Gold
Picture credit: Wrestlingtv/Facebook
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