It has been a successful outing for the young wrestlers from the Inspire Institute of Sport (IIS) who recently participated in the U17 Cadet National Wrestling Championships and the Senior Open National Ranking Championship in Uttar Pradesh from April 16th to 17th.

The wrestlers secured a total of eight medals. In the U17 Cadet Championship, they won two gold medals and four bronze medals. Shweta Sanju Annikeri, a resident wrestler at IIS from Karnataka, won gold in the 49 kg category. This is her third significant national championship medal, following a bronze at the Cadet National Championship in 2022 and a bronze at the Sub-Junior National Wrestling Championship in 2021.

In the girls’ category, Liza Tomar won a bronze medal in the 61 kg category. In the boys’ category, Sonu Hooda won gold in the 60 kg category. Furthermore, Harshvardhan Bhoyar (65 kg), Mohammed Shazad (71 kg), and Ashvani Yadav (71 kg) won bronze medals. The success wasn’t limited to the Cadet championships.

At the Senior Open National Ranking Championship, held concurrently at the same venue, two aspiring women’s wrestling stars from IIS, Pushpa Yadav (53 kg) and Harshita (72 kg), won silver medals in their respective weight classes.

Yandro Quintana, a former Olympic gold medalist and Head Coach of Women’s Wrestling at IIS, expressed his satisfaction with the girls’ performance. He mentioned that wrestling is usually concentrated in the northern states of India and it has taken a considerable amount of time for IIS to develop strong wrestlers. Quintana believes that their results at the domestic level are already promising and expects significant improvements at the international level this year.

Quintana added, “I am really happy with the performance that the girls have put in, and now we only wish to improve from here.”