World Ranking Series Tournament 2020: Punjab's Gurpreet Singh wins gold in Greco-Roman

What's the story?

Punjab's Gurpreet Singh has made the nation proud by winning a World Ranking Series gold medal in the Men's Greco-Roman 82kg category.

The background

Also a sub-inspector with the Punjab Police, Gurpreet was destined to be a wrestler. His father was a national level wrestler and had Gurpreet enrolled in an 'Akhada' when he was just 10 years old.

India is known to win most of its wrestling medals in Freestyle. However, 27-year-old Gurpreet is now among the select few to bring laurels for the country in Greco-Roman style of wrestling. The seasoned wrestler had won a gold at the World Ranking Series Tournament last year in Sassari as well.

A bronze medal in 77kg at the 2017 Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games in Turkmenistan is amongst his other big achievements in the past.

Earlier at the 2020 United World Wrestling (UWW) Rome Ranking Series, Sunil Kumar of India had also won a Silver in 87kg Greco-Roman. Furthermore, Sajan Bhanwal had clinched the Bronze in 77kg Greco-Roman after defeating Turkey's Emrah Kus by fall in the final.

At the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta, Gurpreet's run was disappointing as he had bowed out in the first round itself. Clearly, the grappler has worked hard after that and made his way to the top.

His run at the 2020 World Ranking Series tournament in Rome began with a dominating 7-0 win over Germany's Florian Neumaier in the Round of 16. After getting past Ukranian grappler Dmytro Gardubei in the quarters by technical superiority, Gurpreet decimated John Walter Stefanowicz of America 5-0 in the semis to make his way to the finals.

The heart of the matter

Gurpreet locked horns with Burhan Akbudak in the summit clash. The Indian grappler defeated his Turkish counterpart 8-5 in the final to lay his hands on the coveted gold medal. His gold medal helped India win 80 points and rise to 4th spot in the tournament.

The 27-year-old was always the favourite to win the final as it progressed and he looked confident as ever. Despite conceding 3-4 points in the initial few minutes, Gurpreet recovered brilliantly and emerged victorious after the culmination of the entire six minutes.

Usually, Gurpreet competes in the 77kg (Olympics) category but chose to participate in the 82kg (non-Olympic category) for the competition in Rome. He did this to avoid reducing weight twice in a span of just 15 days.

His coach Ranbir Singh Kundu explained to Hindustan Times:

"Since the focus this year is to earn a Tokyo Olympic berth, it wasn’t a good idea to reduce weight twice in January—once for the national trials and again for the Ranking Series competition."

Initially, Gurpreet started off as a Freestyle wrestler but has excelled in the Greco-Roman category, which requires exceptional upper body strength.

Gurpreet told TOI after winning the gold medal:

"I focused on my attacking techniques and also on the hold positions. It is wonderful to win the gold medal."

What's next?

The grappler has gained vital international exposure after winning the gold in Rome and will look to continue performing well in international tournaments. The Asian Olympic qualifiers are slated to be held in China in March 2020. With a chance to earn a Tokyo berth at this event, Gurpreet will have all his energies channelized for its preparation.