With the Individual World Cup lingering on everyone’s shoulders, every gambler that follows wrestling has been looking forward to a bet or two. According to Indian local betting sites, the odds are very much in favour of all the Indian wrestlers that were due to take part. We are using the term ‘were’ since some of the top Indian Wrestlers have decided to pull out of the competition and not take part in this year’s competition. The Individual Wrestling World Cup was due to take place in Belgrade Serbia later on this month, and some of the big names taking part representing India included Bajrang Punia and Vinesh Phogat. Joining this two in skipping the Individual World Cup is silver medallist Jitendher Kina, the 74-kilo silver medallist star from the Asian Wrestling Championship. Joining the excused team will also be Somvir. They all have excused themselves from attending the world cup that was scheduled to take place between the 12th and the 18th December 2020.
If we have a closer look at why the Indian Wrestlers are not participating, it is very much related to what the world is currently facing in 2021. Vinesh told reporters everywhere that it is fruitless for her to participate since all the pro wrestlers in her category will not be attending and participating.
On the other hand, Bajrang, another pro wrestler in India, has stated that he will travel to Michigan in the coming days. Only recently married to a fellow professional wrestler, he stated that he will be attending a Wrestling Championship in the US to settle the sore with further wrestlers in the 70k category. Other notable names that will also join Barjang at the tournament are Jordan Oliver, James Greene, Evan Henderson, Joey McKenna, Pat Lugo, Bryce Meredith and Anthony Ashnault. There is a 25,000 $ up for grabs for the overall championship winner, which is quite a sizeable amount if you ask us. Indian betting sites have their odds all set on Barjang, will they be able to take the prize home?
Earlier in November, the United World Wrestling (UWW) announced that they will be cancelling the upcoming tournament that was set to take place in Belgrade, Serbia. Many of the wrestlers that were due to take part, refused to go to Serbia and take part in the tournament. After all, Serbia and many countries spread across the EU were currently facing a second deadly wave of coronavirus. And to be fair, the athletes are right. The World Wrestling Championships was finally announced to be rebranded and replaced with the Individual Wrestling Championship
Vinor Tomar, the WFI secretary announced that this time around, there was no time for anyone to conduct and train and heats prior to the tournament. Apart from this, Tomar highlighted that the world or to be precise many countries across the world are either in lockdown or heading into one, thus any form of competition with the masses gathering, would not be allowed to take place anywhere. Tomar added that with all of this in mind, the WFI opted to send some of her biggest athletes to train and compete in the Sr. Wrestling Championships in Delhi. Hopefully, this will be enough for the team to be able to make it big at the Individual event.
At the very beginning when the Individual Wrestling Championship was announced, the Indian Wrestling team opted to send as many wrestlers as it could, possibly in every single weight category possible. All 30 weight – Both including men and women with also Greco-Roman combat style. With some of the players postponing their representation, they WFI decided it was not the best time to send Bajrang, Vinesh and also their weight categories for the championship. And finally, the Indian team welcomes ban athlete who comes back to the team after a 4-year ban following a doping ban. Yadav is named as the replacement athlete to take Jitender’s spot and it is quite good that the team gave him a chance. Narsingh will also be given a solid chance. This is redemption time for Narsingh who was banned following the 2016 Rio Olympics. Following an investigation, he was handed a 4-year ban from the Anti-Doping Agency. 4 Years ago, we all thought that Narsingh’s career was completely over. Well, think again, the athlete returned back to the training camp in September, and he is honestly ready to rumble.
