LAHORE: The country’s seasoned wrestler Mohammad Inam will on Saturday (today) begin his quest for a 2024 Paris Olympics seat when he faces Taimuraz Friev of Spain in the 86 kilogramme freestyle wrestling competitions of the World Wrestling Championships in Belgrade which also serves as the first qualifying event for the next year’s Olympics.
“Yes, tomorrow I will face a Spanish Olympian wrestler and I just need prayers of the nation. InshaAllah I will do my best,” Inam told The News from Belgrade soon after the draws were held.
Taimuraz, 36, has the experience of playing in the 2016 Rio Olympics. However, he was eliminated by Cuba’s Livan Lopez in the round of 32. He is of Russian origin. In Inam’s weight category there are 48 wrestlers.
Meanwhile, Youth Olympics bronze medallist Inayatullah will start his 74 kilogramme journey on Sunday (tomorrow) when he faces the winner of the fight between the wrestlers of Korea and Macedonia. There are 45 entries in Inayat’s weight.
“Inayat has got good draws and he can easily reach the semi-finals if he plays up to his potential,” Pakistan Wrestling Federation’s (PWF) vice-president Arshad Sattar told The News. “What I have seen in his draws is that all the wrestlers are of his strength and he can beat them,” Arshad said.
Mohammad Bilal, who is the cousin of Mohammad Inam, will also flex his muscles in the 57 kilogramme when he meets China’s W Zou, also on Sunday (tomorrow).
Arshad was expected to act as manager cum coach during the World Championships but he got his visa late which denied him the opportunity to move to Serbia. Now Inam will handle his fellow wrestlers also in the most important event which will continue until September 24.
There is no Serbian embassy in Pakistan and the World Championship organisers had told the Pakistani lot to get their visas from Iran. However, due to efforts from the PWF the three top wrestlers of the country were issued paper visas which helped them reach Serbia in time to attend the ten-day joint training camp which lasted from September 5 to 15. The United World Wrestling (UWW) organised that camp in which grapplers from 36 nations took part. And it was a prelude to the World Championships where the world’s leading wrestlers are set to wrestle from Saturday (today) to press for Olympics seats.
In Belgrade World Championships, a total of 90 quotas -- five quotas for each of the 18 Olympic categories -- will be allocated. Wrestlers who earn a gold, silver or bronze will earn 2024 Paris Olympics tickets. Additionally the losers of the bronze medal matches will wrestle in true fifth match, determining the fifth allocation in Belgrade.
National wrestlers will also get opportunities next year to press for Olympics seats. They will compete in the Asian Qualifiers which will be held in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, from April 19-21 where the top two wrestlers in each weight will make it to the Olympics. In the final World Qualifiers in Istanbul to be held in May 2024 the gold and silver medalists and the winner of a true third match will punch their ticket to the Olympics.
Since 1960 Rome Olympics where Pakistan pocketed a bronze, no national wrestler has ever played in the Olympics. And if any Pakistani wrestler has been is able to make a cut for the Olympics it will be after 63 long years that the nation will return to the Olympic fold in the discipline.
Alam Zeb Safi Alam Zeb Safi is a senior reporter for The News
