The drought of gold medals has pegged back India at the Asian Games . With the wrestlers set to take centre stage, India will pin hopes on Paris Olympics bronze medallist Aman Sehrawat and in-form Sujeet Kalkal to lead its challenge in men’s freestyle. Both enter the competition with strong credentials in their weight categories.
At the World Championships last year, he narrowly lost (5-6) to Iran’s Rahman Amouzadkhali, the Paris Olympics silver medallist who went on to win the world title.
Given his talent, he should be dominating,” Bentinidis told HT. “He is a very good wrestler. He should be dominating opponents, but he is not attacking too much. He should attack more and he can attack. He has a good defence. Sujeet’s rise has been particularly noticeable over the past year. The performance gave Sujeet the belief that he could compete with the best, and he has built on it with a series of significant victories since.
Sujeet recently competed in Russia, where Shako said he was very good. “In Russia he was beating everyone easily and we need that winning mentality, that kind of confidence to dominate bouts,” he said. The moment he gives distance to opponent there is an attack,” the coach said.
The coach wants Sujeet to trust his attacking game rather than wait for his opponents to make mistakes. “He is a bit slow and should be careful on defence. He needs to keep his opponents under pressure, keep moving up and down on the mat. Men’s freestyle team: Aman Sehrawat (57kg), Sujeet Kalkal (65kg), Sagar Jaglan (74kg), Deepak Punia (97kg), Rajat Ruhal (125kg).
