The row between Indian wrestlers and the Wrestling Federation of India had gripped the nation in the months leading to the Asian Games. Indian wrestlers protested on the streets, and there were some ugly images of protests that shook the country showing the tussle between the wrestlers and the police force.
During the wrestlers’ protest which started in January earlier this year, briefly paused before the wrestlers returned to the streets yet again, their preparation for Asian Games was hampered.
Out of the 18 wrestlers shortlisted for competing at Asian Games, only the six wrestlers competing in the Greco-Roman category could attend the preparation camps. No national or international camps were organised for the remaining 12 wrestlers including men and women.
India at Asian Games: FULL COVERAGE | MEDAL TALLY | RESULTS | SCHEDULE
The result? India were able to win just six medals in Hangzhou, Deepak Punia won a silver after losing to Irand’s Hassan Yazdani who prevailed 10-0 in the men’s 86kg freestyle final, while five other wrestlers won bronze medals.
Apart from Deepak, Greco-Roman wrestler Sunil Kumar, freestyle wrestlers Aman Sehrawat, and women wrestlers Antim Panghal, Sonam Malik and Kiran Bishnoi won medals for India at the 19th Asian Games.
Wrestling gave India as many as 12 medals in the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, but fast forward a year, not a single gold medal came in the sport at the Asian Games.
Thus, it was easy to map the impact that the WFI row had on the preparation of Indian wrestlers and as India ended their campaign in Hangzhou on Saturday, many fans lamented on social media what could have been if there was no internal politics involved.
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Check how fans reacted:
The final count for India….. so so thrilled. More than 50% up from last time. And we won medals in sports that I did not even know we had serious entries. Only dark cloud was in wrestling; reminder that there is no space for internal politics in sports bodies. pic.twitter.com/tQVeTaxhuQ— Sanjeev Sanyal (@sanjeevsanyal) October 7, 2023
Current Medal Tally of Asian Games. Disappointed on Indian Wrestlers and kinda on Women’s hockey. Though still have one gold medal final to play. Didn’t expected Sourav Ghosal will lose the Squash final.Though Archery, Badminton, Shooting medal on top. Cricket first gold medal pic.twitter.com/tzXwE0BnST
— Plastic Fan (@footy_work) October 7, 2023
I can see that so many people are making fun of @BajrangPunia as he has not been able to win any medal in these Asian games. This is very wrong. Whether you agree with him participating in the wrestlers protest or not, the fact remains that he is anIndian superstar who has won…— Satish Tiwari (@SatishT05) October 6, 2023
Wrestlers performances are biggest upset in this #AsianGamesWrestling gives us lot of hope & medals but this time around 17 wrestlers, there were no Gold No silver, only 4 Bronze India won!!Deepak Punia the only remaining hope & he is in Final!! Go for Gold #IndiaAtAG22 pic.twitter.com/wIbS37mzrz— Anand Thiyagarajan (@Anand_good) October 7, 2023
India finished their Asian Games campaign with a tally of 107 medals, the highest ever by the nation, and one has to wonder how many more the Indian contingent could have won if the Indian wrestlers performed like they did at the Commonwealth Games last year.
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