Exclusion of Greco-Roman wrestling will hurt India’s medal haul at Glasgow Commonwealth Games

Ravinder Singh, one of the gold medallist in Greco-Roman wrestling at the 2010 Commonwealth Games

Even as the Indian wrestling contingent braces up to live up to the expectations of the country’s ardent fans at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, the non-inclusion of the Greco-Roman category in the multi-sport event has come as a huge dampener for both the athletes and the supporters.

A strange decision by the CGF

One is not really sure as to why the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) arrived at the decision to exclude the Greco-Roman category from the Glasgow, but there are hushed whispers in certain quarters that the move is backed by strong lobbying from European nations and Australia to dilute India’s medal-winning chances. Of course, no one is willing to go on record about that, but irrespective of the rationale behind the decision, it is crystal clear that the rich medal haul of India at the 2010 New Delhi Commonwealth Games will be substantially dented.

Unlike the last edition which had 21 gold medals on offer, the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow will have only 14 gold medals up for grabs owing to the non-exclusion of greco-roman wrestling, which clearly explains why India will find it hard to match the 2010 exploits.

Bucketful of medals – Delhi dhamaka

At the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi, India had bagged a whopping 19 medals, including 10 gold, 5 silver and 4 bronze – in fact, the Greco-Roman category contributed 7 of the 19 medals – and the most gold medals (4) besides 1 silver and 2 bronze.

Rajender Kumar (55kg), Ravinder Singh (60kg), Sanjay Kumar (74kg), Anil Kumar (96kg) had stolen the show in Delhi, all of them cornering gold medals, while Manoj Kumar settled for a silver in the 84kg category. Sunil Kumar and Dharmender Dalal had lapped up a bronze each in the 66kg and 120kg categories respectively.

It won’t be far-fetched to suggest that the performance of the Indian Greco-Roman wrestlers at the 2010 New Delhi Commonwealth Games overshadowed that of the freestyle grapplers.

WFI upbeat despite the non-inclusion

There is a great deal of disappointment among Indians that Greco-Roman is not part of the Glasgow Commonwealth Games after it made its debut along with women’s wrestling in the Delhi edition. “Of course, it’s a big blow to India’s medal aspirations in wrestling. We snapped up four gold medals in Greco-Roman category in the 2010 edition, even more than the freestyle category, and its non-inclusion will surely affect our chances of reaping a rich haul,” a Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) official said on the condition of anonymity.

The WFI official stopped short of terming it a conspiracy to scuttle India’s medal chances. “I really don’t know what could have been the line of thinking of Commonwealth Games Federation to drop Greco-Roman from the Glasgow edition. There is little WFI could do about it but to abide by CGF’s decision,” the official added.

He, however, backs India to put up a decent showing in Glasgow. “Our grapplers have worked hard for the event. Sushil Kumar and Yogeshwar Dutt are in good form, having won medals at a recent international meet in Italy after long injury-induced lay-offs. We are upbeat about our freestyle wrestlers as well as women grapplers delivering a strong performance in the Commonwealth Games,” he observed.