Wrestler Aditya eyes for Olympics berth, but first priority to reduce weight
Deepankar Sharda
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, March 21
Right at the moment when the 23-year-old wrestler Aditya Kundu was eyeing to reduce his weight to fight for confirming his Olympics berth, the ongoing Covid-19 scare has pushed back all his planning.
Kundu, who recently bagged bronze medal in the Asian Championship held at New Delhi by defeating Nao Kusaka of Japan 8-0 in a lop-sided 72kg bout, had plan to cut down weight to 67kg.
“I planned to reduce my weigh to 67kg to fight for the Olympics quota. I had two tournaments lined-up before appearing for the trials of the Olympics quota. However, due to the ongoing Coronavirus all the tournaments have been postponed,” said the 23-year-old Kundu. He trains at Gulzar Wrestling Akhara under his father Ranbir Singh, a former Sports Authority of India wrestling coach. He has earlier won the Commonwealth Championship gold medal in South Africa besides winning national and All India Inter University Championship gold medals.
“The recent performance in Asian Championship was satisfying. And I was confident of the carrying it forward. But since the tournaments have been postponed May and June, I will now focus on reviewing recordings of my previous bouts,” said Kundu. “I cannot stick on to this (72kg) weight for long and since no place to practice I am trying to practice at home. I believe that there will be a tough competition in the 67kg category and I have to be prepared both physically and mentally,” added Kundu. The wrestler is currently working as inspector in the office of Cooperative Society (Punjab). He was pushed into wrestling by his father and started his career as a freestyle wrestler. “I had never thought of becoming a wrestler until my father pushed me into it. It was not easy to get coached by him, especially when keeping in mind his dual role in my life. After winning gold medal in the national-university championship, I was down to a knee injury. I was not able to put too much stress on my legs which make me to start afresh by choosing Greco-Roman,” said Kundu, who also won many national level championships while playing for Punjab. The bronze medal in New Delhi was his only second international medal after the Commonwealth Championship.
