Top three wrestlers leave for Bishkek

LAHORE: Pakistan’s top three wrestlers on Friday flew out from here for Bishkek to feature in the Asian Championship and Asian Qualifiers for 2024 Paris Olympics. The remaining four wrestlers, the coach and a referee will leave on Saturday (today).

The country’s premier wrestler Mohammad Inam, Mohammad Bilal and Abdullah departed for Bishkek. “Yes we are now at the Dubai Airport, waiting for our next flight,” Inam told The News from Dubai Airport.

They were scheduled to leave on April 2 but due to delay in visas they could not proceed as per the initial plans. The Asian Senior Wrestling Championship will be conducted from April 11-16 while the Asian Olympic Qualifier will be held from April 19-21.

They will be joined by Asadullah (74kg), Sharif Tahir (79 kg), Haider Ali (86 kg), and Zaman Anwar (125 kg) who are scheduled to leave on Saturday (today) along with coach Mohammad Usman Shahid and referee Niamatullah.

In the Asian Championship seven wrestlers will feature while in the Asian Qualifiers for Paris Olympics Inam, Bilal, Abdullah and Zaman Anwar will flex their muscles. “We have trained with local wrestlers with whom we also train in Gujranwala. The available wrestlers had been invited to the camp and an effort has been made,” Inam told this correspondent. “I have also worked hard and our coach Ghulam Fareed also did well and we have utilised the available resources and have prepared well. I am in top shape. Yes, I am playing in 97kg and I will put in my best to produce good results,” he added.

“We did workout in Ramadan and it is not easy when you train along with fasting. We also used to hold a session an hour before Iftar and after Iftar we used to train for two and a half hours. It was tough,” Inam said.

“A few days early arrival in Bishkek will help us to get acclimatized. For preparing for such a major event you need to have a three-month foreign training tour and only then you can get the best out of yourself. In the last ten to 15 days wrestlers had different plans as some were in recovery phase, some did one time training and others focused on gym training. I think such short training camp has no advantage,” Inam said.

Meanwhile, gutsy wrestler Mohammad Bilal said that they are fit. “Our fitness is good but if you say that we will get a week joint training camp in Bishkek so the issue is that one week before an event wrestlers stop training. They enter the recovery phase,” Bilal told this correspondent.

“We will make a big effort and let’s see what happens. We have been talking for so long that we need a few months foreign training but it did not happen. Yes, we have made all out effort to prepare for the events and let’s see how the things go there,” Bilal said.