Paris Olympics 2024: Eyes on the mat after a topsy-turvy 12 months for Indian wrestlers

Indian women may have won just one Olympic medal in women’s wrestling compared to the six won in the men’s freestyle event, but the Paris Olympics could see a significant shift.

A record five women wrestlers — Vinesh Phogat (50kg), Antim Panghal (53kg), Anshu Malik (57kg), Nisha Dahiya (68kg), and Reetika Hooda (76kg) — have qualified for the Paris Olympics. Meanwhile, Aman Sehrawat (57kg) will be the sole representative among the men.

The significance of this record number of female qualifiers is heightened by the fact that three of these wrestlers were part of an unprecedented protest against the Wrestling Federation of India and its former president, Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, just a year ago on the streets of Delhi.

One of the protest leaders, Vinesh Phogat, stands out. At 29, she is the most senior member of the squad and has made history by qualifying for her third Olympic Games, having previously competed in Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo. Qualifying for the Olympics is a remarkable achievement, especially considering her tumultuous 2023, which involved leading the protest at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi and undergoing major surgery for a torn ACL ligament in her knee.

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Vinesh Phogat has plenty of Olympic experience, and she will need it. Competing in the women’s 50kg category on August 6th and 7th, Vinesh faces a significant challenge. Her first task will be to make weight. Vinesh competed in the women’s 48kg category at the Rio Olympics. Still, the difficulty of managing her weight led her to move up to the 50kg category in 2018 and then to the 53kg category the following year. While she won two world championship bronze medals in the 53kg class, even this weight cut sometimes left her disoriented — most notably at the Tokyo Olympics, where she crashed out early despite being one of the favourites to medal.

Unfortunately for Vinesh, with Antim Panghal qualifying in the women’s 53kg category, she has to drop down to the 50kg category. This weight cut is even more challenging due to her surgery and subsequent recovery. She managed to make weight at the Asian Olympic qualifiers, but she was fortunate that her draw included wrestlers from Korea, Cambodia, and Kazakhstan — not the most challenging opponents.

Since then, Vinesh has competed in the Hungary Ranking Series, where she beat Olympic qualifier Alisson Cardozo of Colombia but was defeated by China’s Jiang Zhu. She also participated in the Grand Prix of Spain, where she won a morale-boosting gold medal by defeating Pan American champion and Paris qualifier Yusneylis Guzman of Cuba.

Even if Vinesh manages to make weight in Paris, it will only be the first hurdle cleared. The women’s 50kg category will be highly competitive at the Olympics. As a relatively recent entrant in this weight class during this Olympic cycle, Vinesh will go in unseeded. Japan’s Yui Susaki will be the frontrunner to win gold, while China’s Feng Ziqi and Ukrainian-born Azerbaijani female wrestler, and four-time Olympic medallist, Mariya Stadnik are also among the top contenders.

At 22, Anshu will become one of India’s youngest two-time Olympians when she steps on the mat in Paris. Despite dealing with a shoulder injury sustained at the Hungary Ranking Series last month, Anshu — a former world silver medallist — will be in contention for a medal in the women’s 57kg category on August 8 and 9.

A four-week training stint in Japan earlier this year seemed to have an immediate impact on her speed, as seen at the Asian Olympic qualifier and the Hungary Ranking Series, where she beat the 2023 world silver medallist Anastasia Nichita 6-5. However, a 12-1 loss to China’s Olympic qualifier, Kexin Hong, in the final serves as a reminder that there is still work to be done. The 57kg category is packed with elite competitors, including Japan’s Tsugumi Sakurai, who will be eyeing her maiden Olympic title, and USA’s Helen Maroulis, who hopes to reclaim the gold she won in 2016. Four-time world medallist Odunayo Adekuoroye of Nigeria, who defeated Anshu in the finals of the 2022 Commonwealth Games, is another significant threat.

India’s best prospects for a medal in Paris likely come from the two youngest members of the squad — Antim and Reetika. At 19 years old, Antim will be the youngest member of the Indian wrestling contingent. Given her competition in the women’s 53kg category on August 7th and 8th and her pedigree, she is well-placed to return with a medal.

Antim is one of only two Indian wrestlers to be seeded — the other being Aman in the men’s freestyle — meaning she will likely avoid the gold medal favourite, Akari Fujinami of Japan. In 2022, Antim became the first Indian woman to win gold at the Junior World Championships. She also benefits from the withdrawal of Russian and Belarusian wrestlers from the Olympics, as neither Natalia Malysheva of Russia, whom Antim narrowly defeated at the 2023 World Championships, nor Vanesa Kaladzinskaya, who beat Antim in the semifinals of the 2023 Worlds, will be competing. While the field has thinned somewhat, the 53kg category still presents challenges. Sweden’s Jonna Malmgren recently defeated Antim while China’s Olympic silver medallist Qianyu Pang and Ecuador’s Lucia Guzman, who nearly stunned Fujinami at last year’s World Championships, will also be strong contenders.

If Antim’s field is opening up perfectly for her, Reetika isn’t overly concerned about the competition in the women’s 76kg category on August 10 and 11. The 21-year-old became the first Indian woman to win gold at the U-23 World Championships last year and has been on an impressive run since, losing just one international match since that competition. Among the Indian contenders for Paris, Reetika has wrestled more prospective opponents than anyone else over the past year. Of the 15 possible opponents, she’s faced seven and beaten six, including the USA’s Kennedy Blades, who defeated 2020 Olympic silver medallist Adeline Gray in the USA trials. Her only loss came by one point against 2023 World bronze medallist Tatiana Renteria of Colombia. While Japan’s Yuka Kagami and Kyrgyzstan’s Aiperi Kyzy — the 2023 World gold and silver medallists — are favourites for the top podium spots in Paris, Reetika remains a formidable contender.

Despite qualifying for the Olympics in the final qualification tournament in Istanbul, neither Aman nor Nisha will be considered favourites to make the podium in the men’s 57kg freestyle category on August 8 and 9 and the women’s 68kg category on August 5 and 6, respectively.

Aman won gold at the U-23 World Championships in 2022 but has struggled to fill the shoes of Tokyo silver medallist Ravi Dahiya. He lost early to Zelimkhan Abakarov of Albania at last year’s World Championships and was beaten by technical superiority (10-0) by Gulomjon Abdullaev of Uzbekistan. Both of these opponents have qualified for Paris. Indeed, Aman has yet to defeat any of his 15 opponents in Paris.

The Indian wrestling team for Paris Olympics 2024:

Men:

• Aman Sehrawat – Men’s 57kg

Women:

• Vinesh Phogat – Women’s 50kg
• Antim Panghal – Women’s 53kg
• Anshu Malik – Women’s 57kg
• Nisha Dahiya – Women’s 68kg
• Reetika Hooda- – Women’s 76kg