Rio Olympic bronze medallist Tunisian Marwa Amri wants to learn about Maharashtra wrestling

New Delhi: Having joined the Veer Maratha squad recently, Rio Olympics bronze medallist Marwa Amri has asserted that she intends to educate herself on the rich wrestling tradition of Maharashtra ahead of this season`s Pro Wrestling League (PWL).

To this end, the Tunisia star intends to visit Kohlapur – the hub of wrestling in Maharashtra – to meet some of the senior wrestlers there and seek their blessings. She also wants to meet her favourite Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan.

"I have read a lot about the wrestling tradition of Maharashtra. I have decided to understand more about the culture of Maharashtra and meet Shah Rukh," Amri said in a statement.

"Veer Maratha is my honour, Shah Rukh is my love and learning more about Kolhapur is my dream," she added.

Former Commonwealth Games (CWG) champion Ramchandra Sarang, who runs an 'akhada' in Kohlapur, has welcomed Amri`s decision and asserted that he along with other stalwarts of Kohlapur wrestling like Arjuna awardee Kaka Pawar, former Asian Games champion Ganpat Andalkar, CWG silver medallist Daddu Chowgle and others will pray for her success.

"Marwa and the entire Veer Maratha team are welcome to visit Kolhapur. We will support any player or team who brings glory to Maharashtra and pray for their success," Ranjit Jadhav, son of India`s first Olympic medallist wrestler Kasaba Jadhav, said.

Amri, who represented the Haryana Hammers last season, is confident that Veer Maratha will win the PWL title this season.

"Our team is very strong this year. Last year, I missed out on the PWL title by a small margin. But we won`t let the title slip away this time," Amri said.