The two-day 65th Senior National Wrestling Championship commenced at LPU campus today. Near 400 wrestlers from across India are in action under ten weight categories. Competitions for the five weight categories of 55, 60, 67, 82, and 130 Kgs were held on the first day, and those of 63, 72, 77, 87, 97 kgs will be held on the concluding day, 21st February 2021. Championship, under Greco Roman Style, is primarily supported by Wrestling Federation of India (WFI), Punjab Wrestling Association (PWA) and Jagjit Wrestling Academy (JWA).
One of the most prestigious wrestling tournaments of the country, it is witnessing fierce fights of many nationally and internationally renowned wrestlers for coveted national titles in different categories. Many of the participants include Olympians, Commonwealth Games’ Champions, Asian Medallists, national/ state winners including Ravinder Khatri, Hardeep Singh, Gurpreet Singh, Harpreet Singh, Arjun, Gyanender. The bouts of Punjab, Haryana, UP, Services, Railways were worth witnessing.
The first day witnessed two phases, where in the morning hours Championship was inaugurated by Lovely Group Chairman Mr Ramesh Mittal amid Vedic Mantra Chanting and Coconut offering as per Indian rituals. Mr Mittal was accompanied by the President of Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) & Six-time MP of UP Brij Bhushan Sharan, Padma Shri and Arjuna awardee wrestler Kartar Singh, Jagjit Singh Saroya of JWA and other stalwarts of wrestling domain.
Glittering second phase of the day was flagged off by Chairman Mr Ramesh Mittal, LPU Chancellor Mr Ashok Mittal and MP Chaudhary Santokh Singh. Chancellor Mr Mittal congratulated the winners of the day and invoked them to continue bringing international glory to the country through their respective categories. MP Santokh Singh applauded the energetic performances of the wrestlers. On this occasion, colourful march past by participating teams and melodious performances by LPU students provided soothing relief to the wrestlers.
Some of the fierce fights in 82 Weight category was between Harpreet of Punjab and Rohit of Haryana; in 60 Kgs between Saurabh of UP and Avinash of Jharkhand, Akash of Punjab & Lav Kumar of West Bengal; for 55Kgs between Sharavan of Chandigarh & Deepak of West Bengal, Rohit of Himachal Pradesh & Ajmalia of Kerala, M Chandra Mauli of Andhra Pradesh & Arjun of SSGB; and many other.
The competition is holding a strict implementation of the COVID-19 protocols, with participants furnishing COVID-19 negative reports; referees, scorers, supporters wearing facemasks; mats frequently sanitized; and so on.
