‘Bajrang Punia and Ravi Kumar Dahiya take the game to the opponent’
Ajmer Malik highlighted the importance of being mentally tough at the Olympic Games.
Wrestling is a sport where India have solid medal hopes at Tokyo 2020, with the likes of Vinesh Phogat and Bajrang Punia expected to win medals. And wrestling coach Ajmer Malik, who runs the Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Academy in Haryana and has overseen the development of Sonam Malik, believes that mental toughness is what differentiates the podium finishers from the rest at the Olympics.
He opined that almost every athlete, or wrestler in this case, has given their best in the preparations; however, it’s the pressure of the biggest stage in sports – Olympics that can certainly overawe a player and leave him or her off balance.
“90 per cent it is the mental strength that works (at Olympics). Because everyone goes into the Games with full preparation, but it is the mentally stronger one who comes out on top,” Malik explained to Olympics.com.
He cited the example of Olympic medallist Yogeshwar Dutt, who mentioned that there are occasions when one experiences a sudden shivering ahead of an important bout.
“I remember talking to Yogeshwar Dutt and others, where he mentioned that at the Olympics there are situations where the entire body shivers under pressure. At that time, everyone starts to think about the honour they can earn by winning a medal and that is what puts pressure on them. So much so, that if one is thinking of giving their 50 percent, they would only be able to execute 25 percent of it,” he pointed out.
Malik feels that every wrestler has some weakness or the other but the key is to be aware of one’s own shortcomings and not allow the opponent to take advantage of the same.
“Bajrang Punia, Ravi (Kumar Dahiya) and Sonam Malik are the kind of wrestlers who will get behind their opponents. If the opponents snatch a point from them, they will try to grapple them till the end and one can expect them to score points till the final minutes and win it. The biggest weakness for a player can be not knowing about his own weak areas. Bajrang Punia knows that his right leg is weak. He is working on it and all the concentration will remain on that.
“However, every player has some weakness. Even Sushil Kumar (two-time Olympic medallist) had some weaknesses in them. But the coaches take care of it and work accordingly,” he reasoned.