Antim, Aman and a promise for future

The latest edition of the Asian Wrestling Championships in Astana was supposed to feature Indian wrestling royalty in front of a teeming Indira Gandhi Stadium in the capital. However, the protests by the elite wrestlers against the then Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief Brijbhushan Sharan Singh earlier this year not only led the Indian government to form an oversight committee to run the sport but also cajoled UWW — wrestling's global governing body — to take the continental championship to Kazakhstan.

With Tokyo medallists Bajrang Punia and Ravi Dahiya and two-time Olympian Vinesh Phogat deciding to skip the competition, the Indian contingent was suddenly shorn of its biggest stars. On the brighter side, the absence of famed regulars did present an ideal opportunity for the next generation to assert itself. Antim Panghal and Aman Sehrawat did just that.

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Young guns Anshu Malik (57kg) and Sonam Malik (62kg) continued to make an impression in the Olympic class, putting the likes of Rio Olympics bronze medallist Sakshi Malik — she couldn't even make the national camp that preceded the competition — and Worlds bronze medallist Sarita Mor under pressure. Both youngsters fetched a bronze each in Astana while Sarita (59 kg) drew a blank.

Twenty-five-year-old Nisha Dahiya, bronze medallist at the 2021 U23 World Championships, took a silver, her biggest international medal to date. Nisha's silver can potentially upset the order in the 68 kg class which has been hitherto dominated by two-time Asian champion Divya Kakran. Like Sakshi, Kakran seems to have fallen off the radar and wasn't part of the camp.

In the freestyle division, Anuj Kumar, who replaced the seasoned Bajrang Punia in the highly-competitive 65kg field, failed to reach the medal round. In Sujeet, Jaskaran, and Udit, India has three quality challengers to the 29-year-old who hasn't competed since the Birmingham Commonwealth Games (CWG). The Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist is in the centre of wrestlers' fight against WFI and didn't travel for an approved training stint in Kyrgyzstan.

The 74kg class, vacant since the fall of Sushil Kumar, still awaits a worthy successor although the likes of national champion Yash Tushir and U20 Worlds bronze medallist Sagar Jaglan offer promise. At the Asian Championships, Yash's repechage loss to Korea's Byungmin Gong ended his chances of a medal, leaving Aman and Antim as the most promising young performers.

Billed as the future of Indian wrestling, the two teenagers gave a good account of their skill and acumen and finished on the podium. Antim, 18, was decimated 10-0 by Japanese phenom Akari Fujinami but Aman, 19, registered a commanding 9-4 win over Kyrgyzstan's Almaz Smanbekov.

The success of Antim and Aman, considering their pedigreed junior careers, is hardly a surprise. While Antim is the only Indian girl to become the U20 world champion, a feat she achieved last August, Aman has blazed a lightning trail in age-group events. The reigning U23 Asian champion is also a silver medallist from last year's U-20 Asian Championships. A senior debut arrived last year and the youngster from Haryana's Birohar village responded with medals in all three events he competed in - gold at the Bolat Turlykhanov Cup Ranking Series, silver at the Zouhaier Sghaier Ranking Series, and bronze at the Yasar Dogu Ranking Series.

The takeaway from Astana though is more than just the podium. The two teenagers have thrown their proverbial hats in the ring as likely replacements for the much-decorated duo of Vinesh (53kg) and Ravi (57kg), more so with no immediate clarity on when the experienced duo will return to competition. After skipping a couple of ranking series and Asian Championships trials this year, Vinesh didn't travel to the scheduled 11-day training trip to Olympic Preparation Centre in Spala, Poland. Likewise, Ravi hasn't competed since his Commonwealth Games (CWG) gold eight months back and is still recuperating from an injury to his right knee. He is yet to resume mat training.

In the only bout Vinesh and Antim have fought, the youngster showed she is no pushover. The two met at the CWG trials last May where Antim almost stunned Vinesh — ten years her senior — before the experienced wrestler overturned a 0-3 deficit in the dying seconds to book her ticket to Birmingham. The bout ended with the scores tied at 3-3 but since Vinesh had won the last point, she went through.

"I think the next time they meet, Antim will be able to beat her. She has immense respect for Vinesh but each bout starts at 0-0. This is a jungle and an ageing lion has to make way for a more energetic one," said Antim's coach Vikas Bhardwaj who trains her at Hisar's Baba Lal Das Kushti Academy.

"She may be young and still raw, but she is world-class. Even in the Asian Championships final where she was up against a powerhouse (Fujinami), Antim was confident to win gold. She later told me she was not well and just couldn't wrestle, but she'll come back stronger," Bhardwaj added.

Coach Randhir Malik, who is part of India's coaching team at the Asian meet and who was also with the Indian contingent when Antim won the U-20 world title, was more measured in his assessment. "I think Antim still needs some work on her ground wrestling, but overall, she is a very fine wrestler. As far as Vinesh is concerned, we will see when we get there."

Aman and Ravi, both of whom train at Delhi's Chhatrasal Stadium, have crossed swords only once — at the CWG trials — where Ravi blanked him 10-0. "Ravi is six years senior to Aman and there is an obvious gulf in experience, exposure, and strength. But the kind of strides Aman has taken in recent years is remarkable. India is lucky to have two such wrestlers in a single weight class," said Parveen Dahiya, Aman's coach at Chhatrasal.

With the two having to work hard to maintain weight, Ravi and Aman will see each other a lot even when they choose to move up a weight (61kg in non-Olympic, 65 kg in the Olympic category). "All I can say is, it is unfortunate that only one of them can compete in the Paris Olympics, but we have found a star in Aman. He has a bright future," Lalit said.

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