LAHORE: Eyeing qualification for the ANOC World Beach Games later this summer, Pakistan’s premier wrestler Mohammad Inam will leave for Singapore on Thursday (tomorrow) to feature in the Beach Wrestling World Series to be held there from June 10-11.Inam, who is regarded as the most destructive grappler in the beach wrestling world with a handful of world titles to his name, missed a few world beach wrestling series due to his preparation for the Commonwealth Games held in Birmingham last year where he won a silver medal.
However, the Singapore event is extremely important for the two-time Commonwealth Games gold medallist whose points will help him qualify for the World Beach Games to be held from August 10-11 in Bali, Indonesia, where he will defend his title. Inam won gold in the 2019 World Beach Games in Doha which was the inaugural edition in which the world’s top wrestlers feature. “Yes, it's a very important event for me if I have to qualify for the World Beach Games,” Inam told ‘The News’.
“Before the National Games I was training hard for this event also in my own arena in Gujranwala. And after the Games I also have been working there. I hope I will click in the event,” he said.
“This is after almost 15 months that I will be featuring in the Beach Wrestling Series as you know we were working for the Commonwealth Games last year but now I have focused on the coming event,” said Inam who also has to his credit gold medals in the 2017 Dalian World Beach Wrestling Championship and 2018 Sarigerme World Beach Wrestling Championships.
Inam missed the May 2023 World Beach Wrestling Series in Buenos Aires due to financial issues. “I wanted to feature in the Argentina world series but could not do so due to costly tickets,” he said.
“For this event I along with the Pakistan Wrestling Federation (PWF) are jointly meeting the expenses. I pray to God Almighty to help me succeed in this event as it has high value for me,” said Inam, who is also to take part in the Beach Wrestling World Series in France on June 29-30 which will be the last event before the World Beach Games.The next few months are very important for the country’s most seasoned wrestler to impress in both the beach wrestling and mat wrestling. Inam is also to feature in the World Championships and Asian Games with the former acting as qualifiers for the next year’s Paris Olympics.
This time wrestling qualification for the Paris Games is a three-pronged exercise. Besides the World Championships to be held in Poland in August, wrestlers will get two Olympic qualifying opportunities when they compete in the Asian Qualifying round and World Qualifying round next year. This is the last chance for Inam to make it to the world’s most prestigious event in which he has not yet played in his entire illustrious career as he is in the twilight of his career.