How Indian wrestler Seema Bisla settled into her happy weight

The process of finding the best suited weight category is an aspect of wrestling that should ideally come early. Thereon, it takes years to hone the skills required to excel in that division. But Seema Bisla, 29, took quite a while to find her weight class.

It was only in 2018 that she finally settled on the 50 kg women’s freestyle event. And now, three years after she ceased the process of jumping between divisions, she’s on the brink of her Olympic debut at Tokyo 2020.

These three years have seen her rise from being an unknown underdog to being one of the four Indian women wrestlers in the Tokyo contingent. But there was another three year spell early in her career that better explained the weight-shifting wilderness she had to endure.

In 2009, she was in the 46 kg event at the Asian Championships. By the 2012 edition of the youth event she had pushed up 21 kgs to the 67 kg division. That rapid change though was more a result of a neck injury.

“She increased weight because doctors advised against dropping it,” her coach at the time, Paramjit Singh was quoted by The Indian Express. “She had less power since she was shifting from 53 kg to 67 kg. So we had to work to build her core strength.”

But she was still a junior wrestler at that point. When she entered the senior division, she was down the pecking order and had to take up a spot left vacant by the likes of Vinesh Phogat and Rio 2016 bronze medallist Sakshi Malik. So she dabbled in the 55 kg, 53 kg and 50 kg divisions for years without getting much international action. By 2018 however, Phogat made a permanent switch to the 53 kg event leaving the door open for Bisla in the 50 kg category. She took it, and made the most of it.

In 2019, she picked up gold medals at the Matteo Pellicone and Yasar Dogu events.

“The fight in freestyle is all about leg attacks and leg defence and once she settled to the 50 Kg weight division, it helped us plan on a long-term basis,” Paramjit added.

Dominating the attack and defence on the lower body is what made the difference when she travelled to Sofia, Bulgaria for the World Olympic Games Qualifiers. She defeated Polish wrestler Anna Lukasiak with leg attacks to earn the Tokyo berth.

Once a drifter across weight categories, Bisla is now set to become an Olympian.

When will Seema Bisla be seen in action?

Seema Bisla will open her Tokyo 2020 campaign against Turkey's Sarra Hamdi on Friday, August 6.