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Wrestlers face hurdles
Talented wrestlers are facing a lot of problems in the State. Due to lack of facilities, players are losing interest in sports.
Vijayawada: Talented wrestlers are facing a lot of problems in the State. Due to lack of facilities, players are losing interest in sports.
Wrestlers are inspired by Olympic bronze medalist Sakshi Malik and showed their talent in School Games Federation of India (SGFI) Inter
District Wrestling Championship being held now at Telaprolu in Krishna district.
Nearly 450 boys and girls are taking part in the championship. All the wrestlers are playing without costumes and shoes. The tournament
is being organised on the gymnastics mats. Even Sports Authority of Andhra Pradesh (SAAP) doesn’t have the wrestling mats.
Many wrestlers have no minimum costumes. The tournament organisers took costumes for this championship ignoring the participants.
The irony is that even the national players are also participating in the tournament without costumes and shoes.
Last year, SGFI nationals bronze medalist M Manju from Chittoor district participated in nationals at Parbani in Maharashtra without
shoes. She borrowed shoes from her colleague. She came from poor family background and is interested in wrestling and judo. She is
playing both the games.
Specialised mats are to be used for wrestling. Unfortunately, not a single district wrestling unit has mats for practice sessions. The
wrestlers are forced to go for practice sessions without mats. When it comes to the championship, they are having discomfort to face the
rivals who obviously had their practice on the mats. Though the wrestlers from the State have talent, they are not able to compete and
show their talent due to lack of support from the State and district bodies. “I am very much interested in wrestling. I have participated in
school games nationals and won bronze medals. I want support from the government. If the government supports me, I can participate in
more nationals and internationals and win medals for the country,” said M Manju, national bronze medalist.
“There is talent in our students. What is required is the government support to promote the wrestling activity. Our students are not
inferior to others who are winning medals at the national and international events,” said physical education teacher (PET) of the local
school, T Srilatha.
Dasari Srinivasa Rao
