It seems Budapest is India’s favourite venue for the wrestling world championships. Like five years ago when India had their best outing at the Worlds in Budapest, this year too their performance was one of the best.
In 2013, India finished with three medals (2 men’s freestyle, 1 Greco-Roman) and had one fifth-place finish. India ended the 2018 edition with two medals, one each in men’s and women’s freestyle.
But out of the 30 wrestlers that participated for India, only five reached the medal rounds and two won a medal, while 28 others returned empty handed. Bajrang Punia and Pooja Dhanda aside, others disappointed once again at the tournament. Only one Indian Greco-Roman wrestler was able to win a bout out of the 10 that participated. The story was hardly pleasant in other categories:
Men’s freestyle
Sandeep Tomar (57 kg) 1-1
Finished 10th out of 27
Tomar represented India at the Rio Olympics and since then he has only seen a downfall in his performance. He failed to win a medal at the Asian Games and now at the World Championships. After winning his qualification bout, Tomar lost his pre-quarters bout to Giorgi Edisherashvili 2-2. He finished 10th in a field of 27 wrestlers.
Sonba Gongane (61 kg) 2-2
Finished 8th out of 23
Sonba was wrestling at his first senior world championships, and ended with two wins and as many losses. He reached the quarter-finals but was humbled by eventual silver medallist Gadzhimurad Rashidov of Russia. In the repechage round, he lost to Mongolia wrestler and finished eighth among 23 wrestlers.
Bajrang Punia (65 kg) 4-1
Finished 2nd out of 31
The only loss for Punia came in the final of the 65 kg category. He became the only Indian wrestler to win two medals at World Championships as he finished with a silver medal. He was one of the three medallists at the same venue in 2013 having won a bronze. He showed control throughout the tournament but was outdone by Takuto Otoguro of Japan in the final. He finished second in a field of 31 wrestlers.
Pankaj Rana (70 kg) 1-1
Finished 11th out of 28
A promising wrestler for India, Rana disappointed in Budapest. After winning his qualification bout with ease, he lost to Ikhtiyor Navruzov and crashed out of the tournament. An outing to forget at his first World Championships.
Jitender Kinha (74 kg) 0-1
Finished 22nd out of 32
Jitender won a wrestle-off with Praveen Rana to participate in Budapest but he will return with a result he won’t be proud of. In the only bout he wrestled at the tournament, he lost 3-5.
Sachin Rathi (79 kg) 0-1
Finished 21 out of 26
Rathi is another junior wrestler moving up to the senior category. But his debut at the senior Worlds was far from ideal as he lost his only bout to Unurbat Purevjav. Rathi was the junior Asian champion in the 74 kg recently.
Pawan Kumar (86 kg) 0-1
Finished 25th out of 31
Wresting at his fifth World Championships, Pawan was expected to win at least a bout. But like in the past, he disappointed once again. He lost his qualification bout to Ukraine and failed to advance in Budapest.
Deepak Saroha (92 kg) 0-1
Finished 16th out of 21
Deepak got a bye in his qualification bout and was directly wrestling in the pre-quarters but that is where the his journey ended. He failed to even score a point against Ukraine and lost 0-4.
Mausam Khatri (97 kg) 0-1
Finished 19th out of 25
A veteran of the category in India, Khatri was one of the biggest disappointments of the tournament as he lost to Venezuela in the qualification round. Though he did get two points in the bout, his 2-12 loss was nothing short of an embarrassment.
Sumit Malik (125 kg) 2-2
Finished 5th out of 22
The biggest surprise of the tournament for India came in the 125 kg category where Sumit reached the semi-finals, thanks to the luck of draw, before losing to Deng Zeiwei of China. After getting a bye in the qualification round, Sumit won his pre-quarter and quarter-final bout with ease. Deng was too strong for Sumit in the semis. India’s hopes of a medal in the super-heavyweight category were dashed by Nick Gwiazdowski of USA as he beat Sumit easily.
Women’s Freestyle
Ritu Phogat (50kg) 2-2
Finished 5th out of 23
After India’s best female wrestler Vinesh Phogat pulled out of the world championships due to injury, her cousin Ritu was called up as replacement. The two-time junior Worlds medallist pulled off an impressive performance and finished fifth, losing to Oksana Livach in the bronze-medal playoff. She lost to eventual champion Yui Susaki in the quarters but in the repechage round she beat returning silver medallist Emilia Vuc of Romania.
Pinki (53 kg) 1-1
Finished 11th out of 23
Pinki, making her senior World Championships debut, failed to impress as she lost her pre-quarterfinal bout despite winning the qualification round 10-0. Not even in the team initially, Pinki was added later. She could put up only one win against Moldova.
Seema Bisla (55 kg) 0-1
Finished 21st out of 21
Seema took the wooden spoon in her category. The national champion in the 53kg category lost to Mongolia in the pre-quarterfinal. She had received a bye in her first round but that did not count for much.
Pooja Dhanda (57 kg) 2-2
Finished 3rd out of 25
The only medallist for India in the women’s freestyle wrestling was Dhanda. She took home a bronze medal in Budapest, a place where she had made her debut at the senior level in 2013. She fought through a tough draw and lost to eventual champion Rong Ningning of China before returning in the repechage to win a medal, India’s fourth ever in women’s wrestling at Worlds.
Sarita Mor (59 kg) 2-1
Finished 7th out of 21
Sarita could have scripted a fairytale had she won a medal in Budapest. She was called to Budapest just two days before the weigh-ins and wrestled with great determination to win her two bouts. She lost to Mongolia in the quarter-final, which ended her tournament. Sarita had been nursing an injury before the tournament and had skipped the selection trials.
Sakshi Malik (62 kg) 1-2
Finished 12th out of 25
The Rio Olympic medallist Malik had a below-par tournament as she lost her repechage bout in the final second. She received a bye in the qualification round, won her pre-quarters against Russia but lost to Japan in the quarters. She got a chance in repechage but her passivity cost her a medal as she lost to Hungary 2-3.
Ritu Malik (65 kg) 2-2
Finished 5th out of 22
Ritu was one of three women wrestlers who made it to the medal bouts. Unfortunately, she lost the bronze medal playoff to Japan. But overall, she had an impressive tournament having finished fifth, punching above her weight. Her wins were over wrestlers from Ukraine and Belarus while she lost to Finland and Japan.
Navjot Kaur (68kg) 2-2
Finished 8th out of 26
Asian champion Kaur failed to replicate her performance from the continental championships and finished a disappointing eighth in Budapest. She won her pre-quarterfinal against Chinese Taipei but lost to eventual silver-medallist from France. She won her first-round repechage bout but lost to Canada in the second round.
Rajni (72 kg) 0-1
Finished 14th out of 17
Perhaps the most underachieving wrestler in the squad, Rajni was the biggest disappointment. She wrestled an Austrian in her pre-quarters and was pinned in 40 seconds of the bout.
Kiran Godara (76 kg) 1-1
Finished 10th out of 22
India have rarely been a force to reckon in the heavyweight category and the same was proved by Kiran who ended the tournament at 10th place. She lost to Kazakhstan in the pre-quarterfinals.
Men’s Greco-Roman (GR)
India entered wrestlers in all 10 weight categories of the the Greco-Roman style. Out of the 12 bouts that Indian wrestlers fought, they managed to win only two. Manish Kundu won a bout against Latvia in the 67 kg weight category, while Hardeep Singh won against Morocco. Apart from these two bouts, India were humiliated by wrestlers with superior technique and fitness.
Vijay (55 kg): Finished 16th out of 21
Gyanender (60 kg): Finished 26th out of 31
Gaurav Sharma (63 kg): Finished 17th out of 27
Manish Kundu (67 kg): Finished 19th out of 33
Kuldeep Malik (72 kg): Finished 29th out of 29
Gurpreet Singh (77 kg): Finished 34th out of 36
Harpreet Singh (82 kg): Finished 15th out of 26
Manjeet Kundu (87 kg): Finished 28th out of 34
Hardeep Singh (97 kg): Finished 12th out of 34
Naveen (130 kg): Finished 19th out of 24