The pre-dawn quiet is damaged by the thud of sculpted our bodies crashing on the froth mat. Double Olympic medallist Sushil Kumar gazes down from a large portrait as Deepak Punia goes via a two-hour mat session the place he tosses round males weighing 30kg heavier. Soaked in sweat and panting closely, his heavy arms transfer like well-oiled pistons, choking a sparring accomplice one second and enveloping him in a imply intestine wrench the following. The morning has nicely and actually begun at Chhatrasal Stadium.
In a few days, Punia will lead India’s problem on the Asian Championships in Astana, Kazakhstan — a match initially scheduled in New Delhi earlier than unprecedented protests by India’s elite wrestlers accusing the Wrestling Federation of India bosses of harassment led to UWW, the world wrestling physique, shifting out the competitors.
The chaotic begin to the 12 months additionally meant most high wrestlers, together with Punia, missed the Zagreb Open and the Ibrahim Moustafa Rating Sequence in Egypt, robbing them of essential competitors within the pre-Olympic 12 months.
Punia used the time to recuperate from an Ulnar Collateral Ligament (UCL) damage to his proper elbow he sustained at a coaching camp in Michigan final 12 months, days after successful his Commonwealth Video games (CWG) gold. The damage pressured him to skip the world championships that adopted.
Although he recovered by December, the 23-year-old resumed mat coaching solely per week again. On the Asian meet, he’ll compete within the non-Olympic 92kg division.
“This will likely be my first competitors of the 12 months, so my main aim is to evaluate my sport readiness. Since this isn’t an Olympic qualifier, I made a decision to not lower weight and as a substitute deal with getting again into aggressive rhythm. I’ll hold switching between 86kg and 92kg until this 12 months’s world championships relying on the competitions,” he stated.
“I’m fully match and free from niggles. I don’t really feel any rust, however competitions are a unique ball sport than coaching or sparring.”
Punia’s weight administration can be dictated by his thyroid situation, which was identified solely final 12 months.
“His thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) worth, once we first acquired it checked, was round 15mIU/L. The perfect stage ought to be round 4-5mIU/L. We have now managed to carry it down considerably however that is likely one of the components we think about when he decides to achieve or reduce weight. We did not need him to lose an excessive amount of weight in too little time as a result of that may make him weak,” Punia’s physio Shubham Gupta stated.
Punia’s quick however profitable worldwide profession has been marked by accidents, a few of which have price him main competitions. Earlier than he missed final 12 months’s worlds, Punia needed to pull out of the 2019 world championships closing attributable to ankle damage. The Armyman from Haryana was already carrying a thumb and shoulder damage in that match.
In June 2021, the Olympics-bound wrestler pulled out of the Poland Open to keep away from aggravating a left elbow damage. He additionally endured a rib fracture after final 12 months’s CWG to go along with the UCL (ulnar collateral ligament) tear in his proper elbow.
Gupta stated Punia’s accidents are extra an occupational hazard.
“There are athletes who do not reply nicely to growing the coaching load, however that’s not the case with Deepak. All his accidents have been impression accidents. He has managed to keep away from surgical procedures to date which suggests the physique is able to therapeutic with conservative strategies. This implies he would not have a psychological block throughout bouts that surgical procedures could someday result in,” Gupta stated.
Punia is coaching below Russian Kamel Malikov for about two months now. The wrestler feels the transfer has already begun to pay dividends.
“Kamel has a really scientific method. He doesn’t imagine in overtraining, may be very open together with his inputs and has taught me some new mat strikes. With issues like ‘situational bouts’, he offers me varied situations which will come up throughout a bout,” Punia stated.
With the Paris Olympics barely a 12 months away, Punia insists on the necessity for high quality coaching and competitors. “I wish to go to Dagestan to coach quickly after the Asian championships. High quality sparring in greater weight lessons in India is an issue.”
The near-miss within the Tokyo Video games, the place he misplaced the bronze playoff to San Marino’s Myles Amine within the dying seconds, nonetheless hurts. Having performed that bout 1,000,000 instances in his head, Punia objectively assesses what went flawed.
“I used to be extra focussed on operating the clock down than grappling. Within the closing few seconds, I used to be consistently wanting on the clock, and once I was not wanting, I used to be counting the seconds in my head. One way or the other, my calculation went flawed, my grip eased and Amine was in a position to capitalise. I’ve learnt my lesson and can attempt to make amends in Paris. That journey begins in Astana.”