Indian Women’s Wrestling Team Ready for Paris 2024 Olympics, Says Coach Virender Dahiya
Indian women’s wrestling coach Virender Dahiya expressed confidence in the wrestlers who have qualified for the Paris 2024 Olympics. He highlighted the support from the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) and the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) in preparing the athletes for the event.
Historic Qualification
For the first time, five women wrestlers have qualified for the Olympics. Dahiya mentioned that since the last four Olympics, Indian wrestlers have consistently won medals. He emphasized that the current team is as good as any other in the world.
Key Contenders
While Dahiya refrained from naming specific medal contenders to avoid injustice to others, he noted that Reetika Hooda became the U23 world champion last year, and wrestlers like Aman, Antim, Anshu, and Reetika recently won medals in the Budapest ranking series. Vinesh Phogat is the most senior wrestler in the team.
Support from WFI and IOA
Dahiya praised the WFI and IOA for their 100% support, stating that they have provided everything needed for the wrestlers, including opportunities for international training.
Reetika Hooda’s Excitement
Wrestler Reetika Hooda, one of the quota winners, expressed her excitement about her first Olympics. She mentioned that her training is going well, focusing on speed work and sparring. She also thanked the WFI and IOA for their support.
Quota Achievements
In May, India secured two Paris 2024 quotas at the World Olympic Wrestling Qualifiers, with Aman Sehrawat and Nisha Dahiya qualifying in men’s and women’s wrestling, respectively. This brought the total number of quotas for Indian wrestlers to six. Notable wrestlers like Ravi Kumar Dahiya and Deepak Punia could not secure quotas this time.
India’s first quota was secured by Antim Panghal during the 2023 World Wrestling Championships, followed by Vinesh Phogat, Anshu Malik, and Reetika Hooda during the Asian Qualifiers in Bishkek. However, India could not secure a quota in Greco-Roman wrestling.