The day of reckoning for Indian wrestling
For the wrestlers, the road to Buenos Aires hasn't been all rosy. 3 gold medallists from 2000 Sydney Olympics returned their medals to the world body FILA.
- NDTVSports
- Updated: September 06, 2013 10:28 PM IST
Come Monday, the sport of wrestling will know whether it will remain a part of the Olympics. The Indian wrestlers though have been having sleepless nights as the sport is fighting amongst 8 other sports to be a part of the Summer games of 2020.
For the wrestlers, the road to Buenos Aires hasn't been all rosy. 3 gold medallists from the 2000 Sydney Olympics returned their medals to the world body FILA.
Bulgaria's Parliament even passed a declaration endorsing wrestling's bid. In support of the bid, Grapplers from 14 nations & 2 different styles united for a protest at the World Championship earlier this year. The Indian wrestlers too were not far behind. Double Olympic medalist Sushil Kumar and many others were part of several protests which included signing petitions in a bid raise awareness. Sushil in fact thanked everyone who supported the cause, "Everyone has helped Wrestling a lot, the entire country has united & I hope the efforts will bear fruits".
With the day of reckoning just around the corner, the sport which is even older than the Modern Olympic movement is fighting for survival. From the clay pits to cushioned mats, armed with a brand new competitive scoring system and rules, a new look wrestling is presenting its bid at the International Olympic Committee's crucial meeting where the world body will choose among softball, wrestling and squash for the lone available spot in the 2020 Summer Game.
The man who is at the helm of affairs at FILA or International Federation of Associated Wrestling Styles, Nenad Lalovic says that he too is nervous. "I am anxious of course. I have the burden on my back of 30 million wrestlers looking at me and my team here. They have expectations of course and they expect us to win but it's not easy".
For the Indian wrestlers though the Olympic stage is all what drives them to continue as this ancient sport is one of the major contributors towards India's medal haul. Out of the 15 individual medals that India has won so far, 4 have come from wrestling.