Nationals: Pritam springs a surprise

Gonda, November 13

Railways’ Pritam emerged a surprise champion in the highly-competitive 74kg category ahead of talented junior Yash while Narsingh Pancham Yadav also put up a spirited show to win bronze at the National Wrestling Championship here today.

While Yadav has made a comeback to competitive wrestling recently after completing a four-year ban for doping, Amit Dhankar and Yash had been labelled favourites in this weight division.

But it was the 25-year-old Pritam who sprang a surprise by winning two of his bouts by fall and two by technical superiority. Even in the final he did not concede a single point, winning 11-0 against Yash, who recently won a bronze at the Junior World Championships and is making a transition to the senior circuit.

“It’s good that I stayed an underdog, otherwise, I would have also fallen on that side,” Pritam laughed after grabbing his first gold medal at the Nationals in his fourth attempt. “I had prepared hard this year and was confident that I will emerge champion. Amit Dhankar is very strong and a veteran wrestler but I have clashed with him in the past and beaten him, so I knew what I needed to do,” Pritam, who trains with Ranbhir Dhaka in Rohtak, said.

It was Yash who had ended Yadav’s title hopes with a 11-7 win in a fast-paced semifinal. Narsingh lost the last-four bout after winning a match that was worth a title clash as he edged out an equally strong and experienced Dhankar 7-6.

The match was full of drama and excitement as Narsingh’s defence and dodge moves were a treat to watch.

It was Amit who got on board with a takedown move. Narsingh drew parity with a two-point throw near the circle. Narsingh twice effected doge moves as he went for leg attack but got up and quickly moved behind Amit for another takedown to lead 6-2. Dhankar got a push-out point and a left-leg attack got him two more. With just 30 seconds to go, Narsingh had a slender 6-5 lead. The two wrestlers went all out amid loud cheers from the crowd.

In the absence of elite wrestlers Bajrang Punia and Ravi Dahiya, not much competition or talent was on display in the 65kg and 57kg categories. Expectedly, Rohit took home the 65kg title after reversing a 0-4 deficit to pin Sharwan. The 57kg gold was won by Aman, who outplayed Abhishek with a technical superiority win. The tightly-contested 79kg final was won by Gourav Balian — PTI