Pak wrestlers flop miserably at World C’ship

LAHORE: Pakistan finished its World Wrestling Championships journey in a pathetic way as the country’s two other wrestlers Mohammad Bilal and Inayatullah were also shown exit door in Belgrade, Serbia, on Sunday.

Bilal went down to World No1 Wanhao Zou of China 4-0 in the first round of the 57 kilogramme weight category competition. Inayatullah, the Youth Olympics bronze medallist, also failed to live up to the billings when he was undone of Rasul Shapiev of North Macedonia in the 74 kilogramme second round 3-2 after a tough fight.

Peshawar-born Inayat had got bye in the first round. On Saturday the country’s seasoned wrestler Mohammad Inam had also been fallen at the first hurdle when he was defeated by Taimuraz Friev of Spain 11-1 in the 86 kilogramme competition.

“Unfortunately we don’t have any chance now in the event and our journey has finished,” Mohammad Inam, who also handled Bilal and Inayat in the absence of any official, told The News from Belgrade.

“The things are the same which we discuss repeatedly. You know we had featured in the World Championships last time in 2015. Only I had qualified as I had done well at the Asian level in that year. If in an event if only a single person has ever featured in a decade then how medal should be expected from the pack,” Inam said.

“We are the best wrestlers of Pakistan who have come here but imagine we don’t have training partners. What we will do while training in Pakistan? You know the situation. Unless we get international training we will not be able to come out of this position,” Inam said.

“There are some technical things like fighting style. I had a good round as I was winning with 1-0. Bilal also played a close fight against the world No1 and so Inayat also lost narrowly against a wrestler from Macedonia. These are the wrestlers who have been lifting medals at the world and Europe levels. The Chinese who beat Bilal is Asian silver medallist. My opponent was Olympian and also has to his credit a bronze in the World Championships. We although fight but at some stage we lose the momentum and its only solution is if we are sent abroad for training for four months from now then we can create a chance to qualify for the Olympics, otherwise, there will be nothing different,” Inam said.

The World Championships was the first qualifying tournament for the 2024 Paris Olympics. Now Pakistani wrestlers still have two other opportunities for making their efforts to carve a niche in the next year’s world’s most prestigious event.

In April 2024 Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, will host the Asian qualifying round which will see top two grapplers qualifying for the Olympics in each weight category. In May 2024 Istanbul will host the World qualifying round in which top three wrestlers will make it to the Olympics.

As five top wrestlers in each weight category will be able to make it to the Olympics through the ongoing World Championships so in the next two rounds there will be some hope for the Pakistani grapplers who are highly experienced.

The other day Pakistan Wrestling Federation (PWF) vice-president Arshad Sattar had told The News that every effort would be made to send the trio abroad for training to prepare them for the remaining two qualifying events to be held in 2024.