Inam to feature in Beach Wrestling World Series first stop in Turkey

KARACHI: The country’s premier wrestler and beach wrestling global king Mohammad Inam will feature in the Beach Wrestling World Series first stop, which is pencilled in for May 28-29 at Ortaca-Sarigerme, Turkey.

The Gujranwala-born two-time World Beach Wrestling Championship winner and 2019 World Beach Games gold medallist is currently undergoing training in Lahore.

As he also has to feature in the Commonwealth Games and the Islamic Games so he has focused solely on those two events but also trains for an hour daily on sand which has been managed by the federation for him at the training zone at the PSB Coaching Centre Lahore.

“Yes, I am going to feature in the Beach Wrestling World Series in Turkey as it is also a qualifying round for the next year’s World Beach Games,” Inam told ‘The News’ on Sunday.

Inam created ripples last year when he won back-to-back gold medals in the Beach Wrestling World Series in Italy, having missed the first leg in France due to visa issue.

“An arena has also been made at the PSB Coaching Centre and there I practise for some time on a daily basis in order to keep myself used to the environment of beach wrestling. The rest is the same as running and gym training work for both genres of wrestling,” said Inam, also a two-time Commonwealth Games gold medallist.

“Keeping in view our international calendar of mat wrestling, the first stop of the beach wrestling world series is very important for me. There are five stops of this event which also serves as qualifiers for next year’s World Beach Games. If I play in the first stop and if we get training in Kazakhstan for the Commonwealth Games and the Islamic Games I will skip the next three stops and will then feature in the final stop in September in order to make it to the list of the top grapplers who will take part in the World Beach Games,” Inam said.

The second stop of the Beach Wrestling World Series will be held in Spain from June 18-19.

France will host the third stop from July 1-2.

Greece will conduct the fourth stop from July 9-10.

The final stop of the series is to be hosted by Romania in Constanta from September 3-4.

Inam will feature in the 90 kilogramme category in Turkey. In the Commonwealth Games and the Islamic Games, he will feature in the 86kg, a weight category in which he has to his credit golds in the 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games and 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games.

The heat wave in the country has made training difficult for the wrestlers at Lahore’s PSB Coaching Centre but Inam said that the situation will now turn better as Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) has decided to install air-conditioners there.

“There is intense heat, no doubt; it’s not easy to train in such conditions. We are thankful to the PSB Director General Col (retd) Asif Zaman and the PSB Coaching Centre Lahore Director Nasrullah Rana who have decided to install air-conditioners at the hall where we are training and at the hostel where we are staying. By tomorrow we will be in a comfortable position,” said Inam, who also snared a bronze in the Tokyo Olympics Asian Qualifiers in Kazakhstan last year.

He stressed that the government should sponsor wrestling training in Kazakhstan which he said is absolutely “important” ahead of the Commonwealth Games and Islamic Games.

“It would increase our medal chances in the Commonwealth Games and the Islamic Games if we are provided with foreign training opportunity for one and a half months. We have already requested the PSB and I am very much hopeful that the DG PSB Asif Zaman will back us. If we practise with quality wrestlers it will help us learn and will boost our medal chances in the back-to-back twin events,” Inam said.

The Commonwealth Games will be held in Birmingham from July 28 to August 8.

Turkey will host the Islamic Games from August 8-19 in Konya.

Inam said that it will be a real challenge for the wrestlers to live up to the billing in the Islamic Games without taking enough rest after featuring in the Commonwealth Games.