(Lucknow): Indian female wrestlers Sakshi Malik, Vinesh Phogat and Babita Kumari are in full flow for the last set of preparation going into Commonwealth Games 2018 here at the SAI centre. The team management said that all the wrestlers are gearing up for the multi sport event and will create histoy in Gold Coast.
All the wrestlers competing in the six categories looked fully fit and focussed. Vinesh and Babita will look to clinch gold, like they did in the last edition, on the other hand Olympic bronze medalist Sakshi Malik will be eager to change the colour of the medal and win her maiden gold at CWG.
Competing against Asia’s giant wrestler, Vinesh and Sakshi won a silver and bronze respectively, in Asian Wrestling Championships from 27th February to 4th March, held at Kyrgyzstan. This proved their strong and solid preparation before the start of the CWG.
“All the six wrestlers of their weight category are fully fit and the preparation for the CWG in is right direction. Our aim is to perform way better than Glasgow Commonwealth Games where we won 2 gold, 3 silver and 1 bronze. We are expected to win 4 gold medals, but the rest is dependent on player’s performance,” said chief coach Kuldeep Malik.
Team: Vinesh(50 kg), Babita Kumari(54 kg), Pooja Danda(57 kg), Sakshi Malik(62 kg), Divya Kakran(68 kg), Kiran(76 kg).
I’ll give my best performance: Vinesh
“Female wrestlers performance was exceptional in the last edition of the games, but this time our aim is to win more medals. The ambiance for women wrestling has changed alot in recent times, and with the change, arrives alot more challenges and we are learning to get through the situation. I’m not saying that ill win a gold at Gold Coast, but ill give my best performance. In the case, if i get a gold, then there can not be anything better,”said Vinesh Phogat.
Ill change the colour of my medal: Sakshi Malik
“The challenge will be very tough in CWG this year, we have worked on our weakness in SAI centre. There is added pressure on us going into a big competition like CWG, but ill strive to get through the pressure and win gold for my country. My journey ended on a silver at the last edition, but i surely want to change the colour of my medal to yellow this time,” said Sakshi Malik.
Hopeful of repeating the previous performance: Babita Kumari
“We are sweating it out in the training camps, as every wrestler strives to give his/her 100% on the mat. I was little concerned about my injuries, but everything is in fine tune now. Ill give it all to win a gold like i did in the last edition of the games. Rest all depends on my performance on the given day, overall im really excited to represent my country in CWG,” said Babita Kumari.
