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Struggle for supremacy
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The 7th National Women's Wrestling Championship was recently held in Tamil Nadu for the first time. Will the State be a force to reckon with in the sport, which has a strong base in the North? Read on...
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At the 7th National Women's Wrestling Championship held recently at the Mayor Radhakrishnan Stadium. — Pic. by V. Ganesan
CURIOUS ONLOOKERS thronged the Sivanthi Thidal at the Mayor Radhakrishnan Stadium on the final day to watch the women grapple with each other for supremacy. The occasion was the 7th National Women's Wrestling Championship and the event was being conducted for the first time in Tamil Nadu. The fair amount of crowd that came to witness the bouts knew very little about the nuances of the sport, which has a strong base in the North. But the spectators seemed to enjoy every moment under the blistering sun.
With all the officials being from the Hindi belt, getting information proved to be a Herculean task for the local press. Even the host grapplers and their coaches initially found it difficult to communicate with them. The atmosphere was distinctly North. Things got better during the latter part of the final day. The event showed how entrenched the sport is in the North, given the domination both from the point of officials and wrestlers. But the nascent Wrestling Association of Tamil Nadu under its Secretary Rohtash Singh has charted a course to make Tamil Nadu, particularly Chennai, the hub of wrestling. The interest evinced by the spectators was not too bad either, as each time the name of the Tamil Nadu boxer was announced, the crowd went into raptures. It was a different matter that the fight put up by the host was nothing spectacular. Of the 25-member Tamil Nadu team (four were borrowed from Delhi), four were boxers and the rest were first timers. As usual, wrestlers from Haryana and Delhi ruled the roost, leaving hardly a crumb for the host. Only Delhiite Indu Sharma representing Tamil Nadu bagged a bronze in the senior 55 kg weight category.
The question that did the rounds was how long it would take for Tamil Nadu to reach the proficiency level of its Northern counterparts? Replied Rohtash Singh, a wrestler himself, "Our objective of conducting the wrestling championship here was to create awareness about the sport. With the support of the media we have achieved that. We have to build on that. Already, I have received a lot of queries from Salem, Coimbatore and Erode." He was confident that in the years to come, Tamil Nadu would be a force to reckon with.
While admitting that the infrastructure in the city and the State was limited, Rohtash said the association was making all efforts to promote the sport in Tamil Nadu. "For the purchase of mat, the Central Government has given 75 per cent of the funds and we have to put in the rest. The system is already in process," he said.
The Akhara scheme, whereby a coach, gym facilities and the mats will be given to the concerned states, is on the anvil and will come into effect soon, according to president of the Wrestling Federation of India M. S. Malik.
The WAT also plans to conduct tournaments in the districts to popularise the sport and tap the talent with a view to building a strong Tamil Nadu team for the next National Women's Championship to be held later this year in Chandigarh.
"The SAI has also deputed a woman coach for Tamil Nadu," said Rohtash. The WAT believes that the infrastructure will be ready by the end of the year.
K. KEERTHIVASAN
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