New Olympic cycle, new face: Chirag Chikkara started wrestling to shed kilos, he is now under-23 world champion

In doing so, helium has besides emerged arsenic a contender successful 1 of India’s astir fiercely contested value categories, 57 kg. He besides announced himself arsenic a caller anticipation to proceed India’s contented successful the people wherever his state-mates person won medals astatine the past 2 Games.

Ravi Dahiya, the Tokyo metallic medallist who missed the Paris Olympics, is expected to determination up the value categories to 65 kg arsenic the Los Angeles Games rhythm begins. The talks wrong the wrestling circles besides bespeak that Paris Olympics bronze victor Aman, too, is considering competing successful 65 particularly since that value people is bereft of world-class wrestlers present that Bajrang Punia isn’t regularly competing.

That leaves the contention unfastened for the introduction weight, that’s the 57 kg class. Chikkara, who finished 3rd during the Asian Games trials past year, is present 1 of the apical prospects with the under-23 crown.

“Over the years, immoderate of our champion wrestlers person competed successful this value category. So it isn’t astonishing that we person different high-quality wrestler successful 57. The level of sparring domestically is precise precocious and it consequently produces bully wrestlers,” Chikkara’s manager Kuldeep Sehrawat says. “It is 1 of the astir competitory value classes successful India and this rubric volition capable Chirag with assurance to bash better.”

Son of an electrician

Unlike galore others successful Haryana, wrestling didn’t travel people to Chikkara. His communicative doesn’t person a wrestling-tragic begetter oregon an akhara astatine home. The athletics wasn’t adjacent connected the family’s radar contempt being surrounded by it — Juan, successful Sonepat, has a affluent wrestling past and produced a fewer internationals.

Dinesh Chikkara, the wrestler’s begetter who works arsenic an electrician astatine a sweetener mill, thought his lad would travel successful his footsteps. “No 1 successful the household has a sporting past. Chirag’s begetter is an electrician, his gramps was a teacher astatine a authorities schoolhouse and I americium a trader,” says Virender. “But erstwhile helium was admitted to a section akhara with the anticipation that helium would suffer immoderate weight, Chirag truly took to wrestling.”

Sushil Kumar, the two-time medallist from the region, served arsenic an inspiration. When Dahiya stepped onto the podium successful Tokyo successful 2021, it further fuelled his belief.

Around that time, 3 years ago, Chikkara landed connected the doorsteps of Sehrawat’s academy, which is backed by the Navy, to instrumentality the adjacent step.

“In the proceedings bouts for enactment to the academy, I noticed that helium was reasonably built for a 57 kg wrestler, had a bully height, was flexible and showed admirable warring spirit. I thought helium could beryllium moulded into a world-class wrestler,” Sehrawat, who has served arsenic the India coach, says.

The determination to Sehrawat’s Raipur akhara was necessitated by the information that Chikkara had turned into the proverbial large food successful the tiny pond that the academy successful Juan was. Here, helium could spar regular with elder wrestlers with a proven pedigree.

Over the years, Chikkara has turned into a wrestler with coagulated defence and speedy counterattacking abilities. “He doesn’t acquisition points, the hostile has to enactment truly hard. What makes him tougher is that helium has precise precocious stamina too. So helium won’t get bushed heavy into a bout and concede points,” Sehrawat says.

Some of these traits were seen during his golden medal march successful Tirana, Albania, during the under-23 worlds wherever helium bushed wrestlers from powerhouse nations.

It began with a dominating 6-1 triumph against Japan’s Gakuto Ozawa successful the opening round, a 12-2 triumph by method superiority against Russia’s Iunis Ibatirov successful the quarterfinals and 8-0 thumping of Allan Oralbek successful the semis.

In the final, Abdymalik Karachov of Kyrgyzstan stretched him to the bounds — Chikkara trailed 0-2 and 2-3 astatine antithetic stages of the bout but wrestled with calmness to flooded the shortage and go lone the 2nd antheral wrestler aft Aman Sehrawat to triumph a U-23 satellite title gold.

And with that, besides involvement a assertion arsenic an heir evident successful 1 of India’s strongest value classes.