Even though the game of wrestling has less fan following compared to cricket, football or hockey, some of the wrestlers made a name for themselves with some splendid performances that made the country proud
The first-of-its-kind Ekamra Sports Literary Festival, which is being dubbed as Asia’s biggest sports Lit Fest, will have some of the big names of Indian wrestling, led by Yogeshwar Dutt, Vinesh Phogat and Bajrang Punia.
Known as a champion wrestler, Yogeshwar came to limelight with a gold-winning feat at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi. However, it was the bronze medal winning performance in the men’s 60kg category at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London that has made him a medal contender in ensuing major global and continental events.
With the memorable bronze at London Games, Yogeshwar became the third Indian wrestler to win an Olympic medal after KD Jadhav in 1952 and Sushil Kumar in 2008 and 2012.
He then went on to win the gold at 2014 Incheon Asian Games, his second medal at the Asiad after a bronze in 60kg category in 2006 Doha Games, before grabbing another yellow metal at the 2014 Glasgow CWG, both in the men’s 65kg category.
He was awarded the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award in 2012 before being conferred with the Padma Shri by the Government of India in 2013.
Yogeshwar will be joined by Vinesh, the cousin of famous Phogat sisters – Geeta Kumari and Babita Kumari. She had to go through some tough times and hardships when she started pursuing competitive wrestling.
Vinesh came to the notice when she secured a gold medal in the 48kg category at the Glasgow CWG in 2014. She then went on to win a bronze at the Incheon Asiad the same year.
She became the first Indian woman wrestler to win Gold in both Commonwealth and Asian games. Taking into consideration her then form, Vinesh was a medal favourite at the 2016 Rio Olympics too.
She also proved the selectors’ faith in her right when she reached quarterfinals in the women’s 48kg freestyle with much ease, where she had to fight with her Chinese opponent Sun Yanan.
It was a battle where anyone could be winner. Vinesh even opened up a 1-0 lead. But Sun fought back with a single-leg take down to add two points to her kitty and in the process Vinesh suffered a knee injury. As a result, the Indian wrestler lay flat on the ground in pain before leaving the arena on a stretcher.
After recovering from her injury, Vinesh struggled to get back into her top form. The year 2018 proved a golden run for the Haryana girl. First, she went on to secure a gold medal at the Gold Coast CWG in the women’s 50kg freestyle category.
She continued her dominance in the same category at the Jakarta Asian Games 2018 by grabbing the yellow metal, thus becoming the first Indian woman wrestler to win gold in both CWG and Asian Games.
On the other hand, Bajrang is the latest addition to the speakers’ list for the Lit Fest. Bajrang, who is training under the mentorship of Yogeshwar, hogged limelight when he won a bronze in the 60kg category at the 2013 World Championships in Budapest. He even improved his performance a step further to grab silver in the World Championships at the same venue in 2018, but this time in the 65kg category.
Bajrang even bagged a silver medal in the 61kg category at the 2014 Glasgow CWG and Incheon Asian Games the same year. He improved his performance in the next editions of the event – 2018 Gold Coast CWG and 2018 Indonesia Asian Games – with gold winning performances.
The wrestling trio will share the stage on the second day of the mega event to share their views on the ‘Biography of wrestling’ and there is no doubt it will be a dangal of sorts during the session.