Another Phogat rises: Ritu seizes the baton, wins maiden gold
Ritu Phogat wins the 48kg wrestling gold at senior nationals.
The gold medal bout for the women’s 48kg category at the National Championships is a blowout. Ritu Phogat repeatedly flips and turns her opponent Aprna Bishnoi with ease. With just a few seconds to go for the first three minutes, Ritu, almost comically, chases her opponent and picks up two points with another takedown to make the score 10-0. The referee waves his hands and Ritu Phogat is declared the winner by technical superiority. As her hand is raised, a dominant Ritu takes in the applause.
Watching silently from a corner of the KD Jadhav stadium is Nirmala Devi. It’s an unusual position for her to be in during the 48kg gold medal bout at the Nationals. The 31-year-old’s sharp featured face is weathered and bruised by a near lifetime of wrestling. When a little girl comes up for a photograph, Nirmala remarks she once wrestled with her mother. She probably beat her as well.
Beginning 2001, she has won 12 gold medals at the wrestling nationals. In 2012, she lost for the first time, in the semifinals while recovering from an ankle surgery. “I simply don’t like losing, at least at the nationals,” says Nirmala. Indeed she says she has hidden the bronze medal away somewhere out of sight. She returned to win the gold the next two years.
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This year she has to settle for a bronze once again. Paired in Ritu’s bracket, she lost to the 21-year-old in the quarterfinal stage. There’s little doubt that bout was the most competitive of the entire draw. The match ended 4-4 with Ritu winning on the basis of having the most takedowns. All of her other three matches ended by comprehensive 10-0 technical superiority margins.
The third oldest of the six Phogat sisters, Ritu has won silver and bronze at the World Juniors along with gold at the Junior Asian Championships. However, her passage to the seniors has often hit a roadblock in the shape of Nirmala. “This is my third nationals but my first gold. I lost in the semifinals the last two times,” Ritu says later. Her opponent on both occasions was Nirmala.
That dynamic is steadily changing. Nirmala’s career has been drawing to an end and the 2010 Commonwealth Games silver medalist has been replaced as an international competitor by Vinesh Phogat — Ritu’s cousin sister. Ritu, meanwhile, has been growing from strength to strength. Last year Ritu beat her senior rival for the first time in the state championships. But the gulf between the two really widened at this year’s Pro Wrestling league. This year, wrestling for the Mumbai Garudas in the Pro Wrestling League, she beat Nirmala, who fought for the Haryana Hammers back to back. Ritu also twice pinned two-time World Championship bronze medalist Alyssa Lampe in the same tournament.
“Before the league she was still a good wrestler but her performances would be up and down because she didn’t understand her strength. She isn’t the strongest wrestler or the most technically sound but she has incredible stamina. So our advice to her was simply to focus on defending in the first round and let her opponent tire herself out. Ritu only needed to attack in the second round. That’s made a huge improvement in her game,” says Jitender Yadav, an assistant coach with the Mumbai Garuda’s franchise.
That was the plan Ritu went in with during her bout with Nirmala. She let her senior colleague attack and managed to recover from a point down with two late takedowns. Nirmala for her part says she simply wasn’t able to defend towards the end of the bout.
Nirmala accepts that times have changed and says she has no hard feelings about losing her coveted National gold medal. “I have achieved a lot, there is no sense of irritation. My time has come, now it will be the time for Ritu to be a star,” she says.
Geeta Phogat, the eldest of the Phogat sisters and a world bronze medalist says she has some sympathy with Ritu’s opponent. “As a senior, I can relate. First you don’t worry about a junior wrestler. You slowly watch them improving until the moment she is competing against you. Then you worry. The junior has nothing to lose. But that’s not the case for a senior, so you are a bit nervous when you wrestle,” said Geeta who was at the stadium to cheer for her sister.
Indeed Geeta says while she wanted her sister to win, she had hoped Ritu might face Nirmala in the final. “That’s just how it is with the draw in wrestling. You don’t always have the best wrestlers competing in the final. According to me the two best wrestlers in the division here were Ritu and Nirmala. It would only have been fair if Nirmala finished second,” says Geeta.
Despite losing the gold, Nirmala is happy that at least she won a bronze through the repechage. It gives her an opportunity to participate in the national camp from next year. “I still think I can compete at the highest level. The loss is setback, but I will continue to compete,” she says. Ritu for her part says has a long way to go. “The national is just my first one, I hope to win many more like Nirmala,” she says.
Bajrang dominates
From his first bout of the day till the last, Bajrang Punia wanted to do two things on a regular basis. He attacked his opponent from the start and ensured he won the bout by technical fall. While he had tough time executing the first one, Bajrang kept a perfect record in the second.
“When I was preparing for the bouts, I just thought that I have attack and win by technical superiority. Now that I won all my bouts in that manner, the medal brings more satisfaction,” he said.
The Railways wrestler did not concede a single point in all his five bouts on Tuesday to win the gold medal in the 65 kg category at the 60th Men National Wrestling Championship in New Delhi. His opponent in the final, Services’ Rajneesh, was no match for Bajrang. Known for his attacking game, Rajneesh tried to apply the same strategy in the final but it backfired as Bajrang defended every attack. In the second period, Bajrang attacked before Rajneesh, who was visibly tired and unable to defend, and performed four takedowns in the space of one minute to win 11-0.
“That’s all I wanted to do. Even Yogeshwar Dutt called be this morning and asked me to win my bouts through superiority. All the wrestlers in my bracket were tough but it’s great to be the best among them,” he said.
Inputs from Vinay Siwach
