With a change in weight category to 57kg, Sarita Mor aims to be the first Indian woman to claim World Champion title.
Sarita Mor in a file photo. UWW
Lucknow: Sarita Mor took an important step towards her 2024 Paris gold medal dream last Monday when the 59kg World No. 1 wrestler successfully switched to the Olympic weight category of 57kg by winning the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) trials for the upcoming World Championships 2022 in Belgrade (10-11 September).
Sarita was missing her prime adversary at the trials in Anshu Malik, who opted out after undergoing elbow surgery and also won the silver medal at the 2021 World Championships in Oslo. She had to face Lalita instead and the 27-year-old wrestler from Sonepat defeated her convincingly 6-1 to book her Belgrade ticket.
Two-time Asian champion Sarita will now be pushing for a historic World Championship title in Belgrade on 10-11 September and could very well become the first Indian woman to do so. A bronze medallist (59kg) at the last edition in Oslo, Sarita certainly knows how to win a medal at the biggest of stages but can she go all the way? Or the switch in the category will make the challenge too stiff for her?
The grappler from Sonepat, who lost the CWG trials to Anshu in May by just one point, certainly doesn’t feel that way.
“I already made my intention clear to be the first Indian woman to be a World Champion. It may sound big but switching from 59 to 57kg is not that tough,” Sarita told Firstpost after winning the trials. “The weighing in allows relaxation of 2 kgs in the national competition so I didn’t really have to lose weight to participate.
“Also, as both the weight categories are close, you come across many of the 57kg wrestlers in the 59kg category often so I am not unfamiliar with my competition either. I might have lost to one or two of them but I have defeated many of them in international competitions this year.”
However, switching to the 57kg comes with a special set of challenges. As an Olympic weight category, it attracts the best of athletes’ attention.
As per United World Wrestling’s official website, the USA’s reigning World Champion Helen Maroulis has already confirmed her participation in Belgrade while Japan’s Tsugumi Sakurai, who defeated Anshu for Asian Championship gold earlier this year, also features in the entry list.
Among other notable entries are Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist Evelina Nikolova (Bulgaria) and Mongolia’s Bat-Ochiryn Bolortuyaa, who switched to the category after winning 53kg bronze in the Olympics.
Sarita, however, is aware of the challenges she is about to face in 10 days’ time as she and her husband Rahul Mann, a former international wrestler, are doing a deep study of their competitors at the biggest wrestling event of the year.
“World Championship is never going to be easy and that doesn’t mean it will stop me from aiming for a gold there. We already are studying the competitors I am likely to face at the event by watching videos of their latest bouts. I am certain they too will come prepared against me, so I am working on my strengths and weaknesses as well,” Sarita said.
Sarita further stressed that no matter what, she is not switching back to the 59kg anytime soon keeping the Olympics in mind.
“57kg is the only category for me from now on. I will be only competing in it at any national and international tournaments. So any win, lose, mistakes, learning I get in the coming competitions, will be helpful in making me a better wrestler in the category,” she concluded.
India’s squad for World Wrestling Championships 2022
Men: Ravi Dahiya (57kg), Pankaj Malik (61kg), Bajrang Punia (65kg), Naveen Malik (70kg), Sagar Jaglan (74kg), Deepak Mirka (79kg), Deepak Punia (86kg), Vicky Hooda (92kg), Vicky Chahar (97kg), Dinesh Dhankar (125kg)
Women: Ankush (50kg), Vinesh Phogat (53kg), Sushma Shokeen (55kg), Sarita Mor (57kg), Mansi Ahlawat (59kg), Sonam Malik (62kg), Shefali (65kg), Nisha Dahiya (68kg), Reetika (72kg), Priyanka (76kg)
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