Pro Wrestling League auction on November 3

NEW DELHI, October 21, 2015. – It’s all set for the Pro Wrestling League. Auction for world’s richest Olympic style wrestling league will be held in New Delhi on Tuesday, November 3, 2015. President of Wrestling Federation of India Mr. Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh announced the auction date here today.

"The PWL Players' Auction will be a big landmark in the history of sport. It will give the six franchises the opportunity to bid for the best players and complete their squads," said Mr Singh. "The player pool is so rich in talent that after the auction we will have six squads to offer highly competitive action for wrestling lovers."

About 100 top international wrestlers from 25 countries, including Olympic and World Championship stars, and over a 100 Indian wrestlers will come under the hammer. The wrestlers include more than 20 medal winners from the World Wrestling Championship held in Las Vegas last month. There are current European Games, Asian Games and Commonwealth Games champions and other international medal winners.

Indian film Industries’ rocking Deol family and GMR Group, who also won the Delhi Daredevils IPL team, are among the six PWL Franchisees.

An elated Star Dharmendra said: “I’m extremely happy that Wrestling is being presented in a world class manner at a global platform, with Pro Wrestling League. I’m sure that Indian wrestling lovers will get abundant opportunities at a grass-root level.

“I’m personally very fond of Wrestling as a sport as I played it in my youth and now I embark on a new journey through Pro Wrestling League”, added Dharmendra, Owner of the CDR Punjab team.

Three-time women’s world champion Adeline Gray from the US has called the League as “historic move in International wrestling’’. Gray said that “by bringing Pro event with huge sums of money, Indian organizers have taken a bold step in popularizing wrestling at the world level’’.

Mood is upbeat in India too. Double Olympic medallist Sushil Kumar is confident that the League would be a big boost to Indian wrestling.

“It will be a great boost when the cream of world wrestling comes to India. This will be a great opportunity for our players to travel with them and learn a lot. Besides the League will keep the focus on the sport and motivate the upcoming wrestlers,’’ said the legend.

The bid for the Olympic and World Championship winners will start at the base price of US$50,000. "Each team has a player auction purse of Rs 2 crore. We are sure that all players picked will be delighted with the financial reward to play in the league," Mr Singh added.

Each team will have a marquee player. The bid for marquee player too will start at the base price of US$ 50,000. As many as 60 players will find buyers since each of the six teams will have a 10 players, including 4 women – a maximum of 4 overseas players and 6 Indians.

The PWL is a joint venture of Wrestling Federation of India and their commercial partners – Pro Sportify Pvt Limited, who are the promoters and organizers of the league.

Press release

Ravi Kumar wins silver in Junior World Wrestling

Ravi Kumar displays his silver medal of Junior World Wrestling Championships

New Delhi, August 17, 2015: Indian Wrestler Ravi Kumar bagged the silver medal in the 55 kg free style class at the Junior World Wrestling Championship concluded at Salvador de Bahia, Brazil yesterday.

Congratulating Ravi Kumar on winning silver medal Mr. Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, President Wrestling Federation of India and Member Parliament (Lok Sabha) said “I would like to congratulate Ravi Kumar on his well-deserved win. All the hard work and efforts put in prior the tournament helped Ravi perform his best in the Junior World Championship and bring laurels to the country”.

“The entire nation is proud of Ravi and I wish him all the very best for his all future endeavors” added Mr. Bhushan.

On winning silver medal in the Junior World Championship, Ravi Kumar said “It feels good to win a silver medal at the end, but that was not the goal of this tournament for me- the goal was to come out with a gold medal. I am happy to win silver medal, but overall I am a little disappointed to lose the finals.  But this is not the end, I just need to fine tune everything – more contact on my feet, pushing and pulling at my pace”.

Asian Junior Championship 2015 Gold medalist Ravi Kumar opened his tournament on a winning note, defeating Stevan Micic (USA) in a tough contest with a margin of 12-8. Ravi who was trailing 2-8 against Micic at the break made a brilliant comeback and rallied with 10 second-period points to take the match. Following this win, Ravi qualified for the quarters. In the quarterfinal, he overcame Canadian Samuel Jagas 9-5 and qualified for the semifinals.

In the semifinal round, 2013 Asian Cadet Championship silver medalist Ravi who was trailing 0-8 at the break, again made an excellent comeback routing Mongolian Zanabazar Zandanbud 9-8 and made it to the final.

Unfortunately, in the final, he lost bout to Azerbaijan’s Mahir Amiraslanov 0-10 points and missed out on the gold in 55 kg of free style. He had to be content with a silver medal.

The silver medalist Ravi Kumar will arrive at New Delhi on 19 August 2015 at 0710hrs.

Press release

Indian men wrestling team (Free Style) all set for Junior World Championship

New Delhi, August 10, 2015: The Wrestling Federation of India today announced its 8 member Junior Men team (Free Style) which will compete in the Junior World Wrestling Championship to be held at Salvador Da Bahia in Brazil from 11 – 16 August 2015. The event of free style team will commence on 13 August 2015.

Ravi Kumar (55 kg) who had recently won the only Gold medal in the free style category during Junior Asian Wrestling Championship 2015 in Myanmar will spearhead the Indian attack in the upcoming event.

Praveen (84 kg), the only medal winner (bronze) for the country in free style during the 2014 Junior World Wrestling Championship in Zagreb, Croatia will also be the core member of the current team. Out of the eight players selected in the free style team, seven have won the medals in the Junior Asian Wrestling Championship held at Myanmar last month. 

Mr. Brij  Bhushan Sharan Singh, President Wrestling Federation of India and Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha said “The preparations of our free style team for the Junior World Championship started well in advance and they have shown brilliant performances in the Junior Asian Championship in Myanmar winning seven out of eight medals. After returning home from Myanmar, our team had a month long camp wherein coaches have worked hard with the players on improving their techniques. I am hopeful that our free style team will improve their medal tally this time”.

The training camp of the Junior Men Wrestling team is currently underway at SAI Training Centre, Sonepat and will continue till their departure to Brazil on 12 August.  

Freestyle Team-

Bharat Patil (50kg), Ravi Kumar (55kg), Amit (60kg), Vikas (66kg), Dinesh (74kg), Praveen (84kg), Rubal Jeet Singh (96kg), Dushyant (120kg)

Support Staff –

Jitender Yadav (Coach), Giridhar V R(Coach), Uday Pratap Singh (Coach) and Pravesh Vashisht (Masseur)  

8-member Indian women wrestling team to participate in Junior World Wrestling Championship

New Delhi, August 7, 2015: Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) today announced that its eight member female Wrestling team will participate in the Junior World Wrestling Championship to be held at Salvador da Bahia (Brazil) from 10 – 15 August 2015.

The team was recently selected by the selection committee of Wrestling Federation of India on the basis of their performance in the trials conducted at SAI Centre in Lucknow (UP).   

“The female wrestlers made us proud last month by winning four medals in the Junior Asian Wrestling Championship held at Myanmar and looking at their recent form during the training sessions in a month long camp, I am confident that the team picked by the selectors has the potential to perform well in the Junior World Wrestling Championship” said Mr. Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, President Wrestling Federation of India and Member Parliament, Lok Sabha.

“In the last Junior World Wrestling Championship 2014 held at Zagreb our female wrestlers have won two medals including one silver and one bronze but this time we aim to improve our medal tally and our wrestlers are ready for the challenge” added WFI President.

The team will see participation of some outstanding performers in the recent events like Junior Asian Wrestling Championship 2015 bronze medalist and Asian Cadet Championship 2015 gold medalist Divya Kakran (67 kg), Junior Asian Wrestling Championship silver medalist Sarita (59 kg), Junior Asian Wrestling Championship bronze medalists Manisha (63 kg) and Pooja (72 kg).

The national camp of the team is currently underway at SAI Centre in Lucknow and will continue till the departure of the team to Brazil on 10th August 2015. 

Team -

Sonu (44 Kg), Neetu (48 Kg), Pinky (51 kg), Manju Kumari(55 Kg), Sarita(59Kg), Manisha(63 Kg), Divya Kakran(67 Kg), Pooja (72Kg)

Support staff-

Kuldeep Singh (Coach), Devi Prasad (Coach), Namita Kumari(Coach), Balbir Singh(Referee) and Manya Sharma (Masseur)

WFI Press release

8-member Indian men team to participate in World Junior Wrestling Championship

New Delhi, August 6, 2015: Wrestling Federation of India today announced its 8 member Indian Men Wrestling Team (Greco Roman Style) which will participate in the Junior World Wrestling Championship to be held at Recife, Brazil form 10-15 August 2015.

The team was recently selected during the trials conducted by the selection committee of WFI at the SAI Training Centre in Sonepat.

Mr. Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, President Wrestling Federation of India and Member Parliament (Lok Sabha) said “This is one of the best and passionate team selected for Junior World Championship which has given outstanding results in the recent past. Looking at the outstanding performance of our Greco Roman team in the Junior Asian Wrestling Championship held at Myanmar last month makes me feel confident that our wrestlers will definitely make country proud by winning more and more medals in this mega event”.

Out of total 8 members of the current Indian Junior Men Wrestling team (Greco Roman Style), 4 wrestlers have recently won medals in the Junior Asian Wrestling Championship held at Myanmar from 9-12 July 2015. Mehar Singh who won the first ever medal (Silver) for the country in the Greco Roman Style during 2013 Junior World Wrestling Championship held at Thailand and the first ever Gold medal in the Junior Asian Wrestling Championship 2015 is also the part of current team travelling to Brazil. The team will also see participation of Ravinder (60 kg) who had also won Gold medal in the Junior Asian Wrestling Championship 2015.  

  

The camp of the Indian Junior Men wrestling team is currently underway at SAI Training Centre in Sonepat from 10 July 2015 and it will continue till the departure of the team for Brazil.

The team will depart for Brazil on 9th August 2015. 

Greco Roman Style Team - Inakhumba (50kg), Manish (55 kg), Ravinder (60 kg), Ashok (66kg), Manjeet (74kg), Rahul (84kg), Ravi (84kg) and Mehar Singh (120kg)

Support Staff- Ravinder Kr Mishra (Coach), Balwant Singh (Coach), Sonu (Coach), Rajender Prasad (Referee) and Vishal (Masseur)

WFI Press release

Bajrang, Babita Kumari qualify for World Wrestling Championship

New Delhi, August 4, 2015: Asian Games 2014 & Commonwealth Games 2014 Silver medalist Bajrang has finally qualified in the 61 kg free style category for the World Wrestling Championship to be held in Las Vegas, USA from 7-12 September 2015. The final trial for 61 kg was conducted by Wrestling Federation of India at SAI Training Centre in Sonepat today, where Bajrang defeated Sonu 4-0.

Bajrang had a back injury due to which he didn’t participate in the trails conducted by Wrestling Federation of India last month. In fact, he had requested the Federation in advance mentioning his inability to attend the trails and considering his past performance, the selection committee took the decision that the finalist of his weight category in the trials will only participate in the Kazakhstan Tournament while final candidate for World Wrestling Championship 2015 will be selected after trail with him. On the basis of this decision of selection committee, Sonu was selected only for Kazakhstan tour concluded last month.

Bajrang who had won bronze medal in the World Wrestling Championship 2013 said “I am feeling better now and during past few days I have worked hard on my back injury. I have already won bronze medal in the World Championship but this time my target will be to win gold and qualify for Rio Olympic Games 2016. We still have a month left for the World Championship and our coaches are working hard in every area”.

In the Women’s 53 kg category, Commonwealth Games 2014 Gold medalist Babita Kumari beat Nirmala Devi 6-2 to book her berth for 2015 World Wrestling Championships.

Due to her injury, World Championship 2012 bronze medalist Babita Kumari didn’t participate in the trials conducted by Wrestling Federation of India in Lucknow last month. But considering her past performances, the selection committee decided to conduct the finals of her trials after the Kazakhstan tour, where Nirmala Devi, the other finalist in the category, represented the country.

WFI Press release

Uttarakhand Lions bats for wrestling

New Delhi, February 17, 2013: The golfing fraternity is greatly aggrieved with Olympics’ recommendation that wrestling be dropped from the 2020 Summer Games. Speaking on the occasion of felicitation of Uttarakhand Lions on Saturday, the winning franchisee of the Golf Premier League, its co-owner Tushar Kumar said he felt “hurt and saddened” by the development. Tushar, who is vying for a team in the proposed Indian Wrestling League, is hopeful the recommendation won’t see light of the day. “We are in a strange situation. We just won the inaugural Golf Premier League and now want to build on this win through to Rio de Janeiro. We wanted to build on wrestling through our association with Indian Wrestling League. The 2020 Olympics was our target where we wanted a wrestler from our team to represent the country, it is sad to note while golf is on upswing, there are challenges thrown at wrestling,” said Tushar.

Tushar’s sentiments were echoed by veteran golfer Mukesh Kumar as well who was the member of the victorious Uttarakhand Lions team. “Yes, it is a sad development. In golf you have a lot of opportunities to showcase your talent but in a sport like wrestling and boxing, the opportunities are limited. Olympics is one of those events for which wrestlers work hard for four years and even that opportunity may be taken away from them. It is heartbreaking,” said Mukesh. “I have come up the hard way and I know what a sportsperson must be feeling when he is devoid of an opportunity. But lets hope the final decision comes in favour of wrestling.”

Away from these concerns, Mukesh and his fellow team mate from Uttarakhand Lions Shankar Das felt a million dollar in an evening that was organized in their honour. In a nail-bighting finish to the tournament at Amby Valley both Mukesh and Shankar pulled out their A game to rally towards a win. On the final day on February 14th, both bogeyed the penultimate hole, the 13th. After this Mukesh birdied the final par-3 and took his team to the top.

Tushar and the co-owners of the franchisee Umesh Kumar of NNI and cricketer Harbhajan Singh have already decided to give 10 per cent of the total prize money of US $ 250,000 to the four golfers of their team – Mukesh Kumar, Shankar Das, Darren Clarke and Chapchai Neerath.

The evening organized amidst fanfare was also attended by fellow golfers Digvijay Singh, Gaurav Ghei and Rashid Khan. The inaugural Golf Premier League was played at Amby Valley with eight teams contesting for the top honours.

Photo caption: Former union minister Syed Shahnawaz Hussain and co-owner of Uttarakhand Lions Tushar Kumar cutting celebratory cake in the presence of ace golfer Mukesh Kumar and Shankar Das to mark their team's victory in the inaugural Golf Premier League in New Delhi on February 17, 2013.

Press release