India have a rich culture of wrestling and after the heroics of Sushil Kumar, Yogeshwar and Sakshi, it's time for these young guns to take up the baton. And the future sure seems promising
'With great power comes great responsibility', goes the popular saying. But in the case of Bajrang Punia and Ritu Phogat – the top Indian buys of Pro Wrestling League (PWL) 2 – the phrase can be tweaked to: 'With attractive bids comes the responsibility of putting up an attractive show'.
When the PWL-2 auctions took place in December last year, neither Bajrang nor Ritu had any idea that the franchises would splash such amounts on them.
"I seriously didn't expect to get the highest bid as an Indian woman wrestler, but I was delighted nonetheless," said Ritu, who was picked up by Jaipur Ninjas for Rs 36 lakh, a sum higher than even what Rio bronze medallist Sakshi Malik fetched from the Delhi Sultans (Rs 30 lakh).
Ritu, the 22-year-old Commonwealth Wrestling Championship gold medallist, is the new Phogat sensation. While the hugely popular duo of Geeta and Babita were snapped up by UP Dangal for a total of Rs 32 lakhs, Ritu was able to attract everybody's attention with her impressive performance in the last edition of PWL and the nationals. But despite the huge sum, her feet are firmly planted on the ground.
"Both Geeta and Babita are my idols so I can't even think of competing with them in terms of money. Or anything for that matter," said Ritu.
Bajrang, on the other hand, has slowly but steadily emerged from the shadows of his hero, Yogeshwar Dutt.
"Yogeshwar is not only a great wrestler but also a great human being and that's why I follow him. I have been staying with him since childhood and he has always been a great support. Kabhi kuch galat kiya toh dhamkate hai, kayi bar peet bhi dete hai (Whenever I do something wrong he tells me, and even hits me at times)," said Bajrang, who was snapped up by Rs 38 lakhs by Delhi Sultans.
He may not have got a chance to fight on Friday as his category (65kg) was blocked in the tie against Jaipur but the 2013 World Wrestling Championships bronze medallist is ready to make the most of the league.
"Last year I fought with Navruzov Ikhtiyor who was already a World Championships silver medallist and realised where I needed to work on. The greatest advantage of standing up to these foreigners is that when we go to international tournaments, there is no pressure as we have faced most of these wrestlers already back home," said Bajrang, while crediting PWL for his success.
For Ritu, the battle will only get tougher as she realised on Friday, when three-time Olympic medallist Mariya Stadnik beat her 16-0 in just three minutes. But the Indian has a matured head on her shoulders and wants to focus on every bout that comes her way. "I don't underestimate anyone. Be it Stadnik or any other wrestler, I have to remain focused from here on. It's time to repay the faith shown by my team and I will try to give by best whenever I take the mat," she said.
This kind of intent had gone missing when Indian wrestlers had landed in Rio and both wrestlers agreed that winning an Olympic medal is their larger goal.
"Sakshi saved the grace by clinching bronze but it was a disappointing campaign altogether. It's not that we are lagging behind foreigners but something went wrong in Rio," said Bajrang. "I am working on my defence, which is weak and have only one goal that is to win gold at Tokyo Olympics."
Ritu echoed the thought: "Olympics is my primary target and keeping that in mind, I will try to excel in other high profile tournaments."
India have a rich culture of wrestling and after the heroics of Sushil Kumar, Yogeshwar and Sakshi, it's time for these young guns to take up the baton. And the future sure seems promising
Honours
Bajrang Punia
World Wrestling Championships
2013 Budapest: Bronze (60kg)
Commonwealth Games
2014 Glasgow: Silver (61kg)
Asian Games
2014 Incheon: Silver (61kg)
Commonwealth Wrestling Championship
2016 Singapore: Gold (65kg)
Ritu Phogat
Commonwealth Wrestling Championship
2016 Singapore: Gold (48kg)
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