Grappling transition

With Sushil Kumar and Yogeshwar Dutt seemingly over the hill, and Narsingh Yadav's career firmly in the doldrums, Indian wrestling is desperately seeking a new star

The equable milieu of the wrestling hall at Sonepat's Regional Sports Centre often rings out with optimism. Coaches, in thick Haryanvi, assuredly talk about how a gold medal for some of their brightest talents at the next major tournament is a mere formality. "Ladke achcha kar rahe hain. Ummeed toh poori hai (The boys are doing well. We are extremely hopeful)" is a prophecy dished out with unswerving regularity.

In Sonepat, where India's top wrestlers train, such sanguinity stems from understandable reason. For years now, the coaches here have been used to schooling two men blessed with matador-like personas and a remarkable wrestling acumen. Their tutelage has resulted in the two winning world titles and Olympic medals.

But deep down, the coaches - even if they refuse to acknowledge it publicly - would confess that for Sushil Kumar and Yogeshwar Dutt, their time at the top has come to a grinding halt. The expectation that they can still win medals at major competitions is taking the shape of a popular fallacy. And, to add to the gloom, Narsingh Yadav, their supposed heir, is likely to sit out the next four years after preposterously choosing to take a performance-enhancing substance in the run-up to the Rio Olympics.

With Sushil and Dutt seemingly over the hill, and Yadav's career firmly in the doldrums, Indian wrestling finds itself staring at a long and painful period of transition - the likelihood of any Indian wrestler going to the World Championships in Paris later this year with any chance of winning a medal looks worryingly scarce. After a decade of dazzling at the world stage - although sporadically - the likes of Sushil and Dutt look all set to pass on the baton. The only problem: very few among India's young talents look ready to accept it.

In the middle of 2014, Indian wrestling was seen embracing a new dawn: a clutch of young Indian wrestlers that included Amit Kumar, Bajrang Punia, Pawan Kumar and Satyawart Kadian - in addition to Sushil and Dutt - had just won medals at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. That confidence was only bolstered when a few months later, Punia, then only 20, won silver in the men's freestyle 61 kg at the Asian Games in Incheon. A promising bunch of grapplers had truly arrived and all seemed well. Then Rio 2016 happened. All four, stung by poor form and injuries, failed to make it to the Olympics. And India, rather expectedly, returned from Rio with a nought against its name in men's wrestling.

"Form at such a young age can go up and down. But there is enormous potential in all these wrestlers. Winning again is just a matter of time," says Vinod Kumar, India's former chief freestyle wrestling coach. Amit, Punia, Pawan and Kadian are all 22 - some concede that being so young is an advantage but also acknowledge that their loss in form has been startling.

Amit confesses that the pressure has not been easy. "What Sushil and Dutt have achieved has been amazing. Performing at that same level is not so easy," he says. Amit, a prodigy of Sushil's, was given two chances in the domestic trials to stake a claim for an Olympic berth as the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) felt that he had a great chance of winning a medal in Rio. Amit imploded on both occasions, first against the unheralded Utkarsh Kale and then while facing the more seasoned Rahul Aware. Only a year ago, he seemed unabashedly confident of winning gold in Rio.

Punia suggests that niggling injuries have played their part. Post the Incehon Games, Punia has competed in only a handful of competitions. However, training, he insists, is fierce as ever. "You go through these phases sometimes. But I'm trying to get better all the time," says the man from Jhajjar.

Kadian, on the other hand, has spent a lot of his time in the last year fighting in dangals across Punjab and Haryana - not the ideal kind of preparation for an Olympic year. And, Pawan has rapidly faded into oblivion, barely making any noticeable appearances at major tournaments in the last one year.

Other former wrestlers question the working of the WFI, raising justified fears about India falling behind even further. "Just look at the way they are handling things. There is infighting and no clear objective. The shocking handling of the whole Yadav episode is an example," says a former wrestler, on the condition of anonymity. "In Sushil and Dutt, we have two great wrestlers. But they've failed to pass on their experience to the younger lot because they haven't been allowed to. This is a missed opportunity," he adds.

The wrestlers, too, themselves have got into squabbles over the last few months. Once inseparable, Sushil and Dutt do not always look eye to eye - Dutt had criticised Sushil's decision to go to court after the WFI chose to send Yadav ahead of him to the Rio Olympics. Such nasty altercations, experts say, does not augur well for the younger bunch that is already reeling under enormous pressure to perform. Officials from the WFI refused to comment on the matter.

The dearth of young talent, though, doesn't seem like a problem. The domestic fight to secure berths for the Asian Olympic qualifying tournaments earlier this year was intense, with most weight categories witnessing vicious competition among multiple grapplers for just one spot. But for most of them, the leap from precocious ability to world dominance seems like a giant one, which will still take some time to fructify. As a former assistant coach of the Indian team says tellingly, "In any sport, we get two or three phenomenal athletes every decade or so. Sushil and Yogeshwar do not come along every day. The void is massive and virtually impossible to fill. We must understand that." Suddenly, the mat is looking for new formidable, world-beating occupants. And, the clock is ticking.