UTTAR PRADESH: It has been a green patch for the young wrestlers from the Inspire Institute of Sport (IIS) who participated at the U17 Cadet National Wrestling Championships and the Senior Open National Ranking Championship recently held in Uttar Pradesh between April 16th and 17th. The wrestlers bagged a total of eight medals.
In the U17 Cadet Championship, the wrestlers bagged two gold medals and four bronze medals, respectively. Shweta Sanju Annikeri (49 kg), a resident IIS wrestler hailing from Karnataka, bagged gold in her weight category. This is her third significant national championship medal after winning a bronze at the Cadet National Championship in 2022 and a bronze at the Sub-Junior National Wrestling Championship in 2021. In the girl’s category, the second medal was a bronze won by Liza Tomar in the 61 kg category.
While in the boy’s category, gold was bagged by Sonu Hooda in the 60 kg category. The remaining three bronze medals were won by Harshvardhan Bhoyar (65kg), Mohammed Shazad (71kg) and Ashvani Yadav (71kg).
The accolades weren’t restricted to the Cadet championships. The Senior Open National Ranking Championship held simultaneously at the same venue saw two silver medals go to the upcoming women's wrestling stars from IIS, Pushpa Yadav (53kg) and Harshita (72kg) bagged silver medals in their respective weight classes.
Speaking about the performance of the girls, Yandro Quintana, a former Olympic gold medallist and Head Coach of Women’s Wrestling at IIS, said, "India has certain strongholds for a particular sport, and wrestling is often concentrated in the northern states. It has taken a long time for us to build capabilities, and now we have a strong set of individuals who are already showing results at the domestic level and this year International results will also improve significantly."
"I am really happy with the performance that the girls have put in, and now we only wish to improve from here,” added Quintana.
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