Geeta Phogat and Narsingh Yadav in focus at National Wrestling Championship

11/10/2021

Wrestler Geeta Phogat is on a comeback trail and could be up against World Championship bronze medalist Sarita Mor, at the National Wrestling Championship starting Thursday. Another interesting contest could be in the offing as Narsingh Yadav will be looking to take on Gourav Balian.

Meanwhile, Geeta is returning to competitive wrestling after a gap of four years, post her son's birth in 2018. The wrestler has also expressed her goal of competing at the 2024 Paris Olympics if all goes well. For now, she has shown decent form as she beat four Haryana wrestlers at the state trials recently.

“My confidence got a good boost at state trials. I am pretty excited for the Nationals. It feels like a new beginning," Geeta told PTI. Knowing that Sarita will be her main competitor, Geeta still heaped praise on the latter. “I know she will be my main competitor. She is also two-time Asian champion but I know her game. She really fights hard. It will be an exciting clash, if it happens with Sarita. I am ready for it," said Geeta.

On the other hand, in the men's section, a lot of focus will be on Narsingh, who has completed his four-year ban. “I admit it has taken me some time to get adjusted after making a comeback but I feel good about my game. My speed was not up to the mark and also I was struggling a bit due to this weigh-in on the same day of competition," said Narsingh.

“Earlier weigh-in was a day before the competitions, so all of it slowed my progress. But I have trained well for the Nationals. Winning gold is my target and then start preparing well for CWG and Asiad.

“I have been doing well in 74kg and eventually I want to qualify for the Paris Games in this category," he said.