Wrestler Manisha wins gold from the brink at the Asian Championships
It was about standing sturdy on her feet and not allowing opponent Ok J Kim of North Korea to scatter the attack and get dragged on the ground, as Manisha Bhanwala secured India’s first gold medal at the Asian Championships in Amman, Jordan on Friday.
The Jind drict wrestler who had dropped down from 65 kg weight class to 62 kg in the last two seasons, knew the importance of keeping the fight standing, as she covered a 2-7 deficit to eventually win the final 8-7. India had picked a bunch of bronzes and a silver medal for Reetika Hooda at Jordan, with the women’s heavyweight watching her lead vamooze in the last 10 seconds on Thursday.
Manisha, who led 2-1 at the half time, has known how fame passes her — having collected 3 bronzes from previous three Asian Championship editions. This time she had been determined to go two steps further and secure gold. The 62 division was vacated Sarita Mor, but Manisha who trains at the iconic Chhotu Ram stadium in Rohtak, home to at least 20 international women’s medalls, had struggled to go all the way in previous competitions when her aggressive grappling didn’t yield dividends.
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This time, coach Mandeep had stressed on strengthening the intensity of her counters. Manisha is someone who wears out her opponents, and often gains sudden confidence mid-match to amp her aggression.
So even when she fell back 2-7, it had been from offensives that the Indian had initiated, but not seen through to their completion. But with less than 40 seconds left, she knew she could muscle through and brought out her underhooks like she had the whole day, dominating the 62kg class. She had had a victory fall over Korean Hanbit Lee using activity points to deploy the power move to trigger the fall.
In the semis, Manisha had raised the stakes in the second period after a quiet first one, with a step out and snap down takedown against Kalmira Bilimbek of Kyrgyzstan. A step out with a minute to go had given her a 5-1 win to march into her first final.Once there, she was not about to let go. The North Korean had fallen back 1-2, unable to create any openings as Manisha stayed error free like the rest of the day. “No makes”, had been the strict instructions from coach Mandeep, and mat side coach Virender Dahiya helped guide her through the counter attacks after a deadlock and stepout had helped Ok J Kim race to 7-2.But Manisha didn’t look unduly worried despite being jostled on the periphery.
Snapdown for 4-7 and a full fledged takedown helped her with a flurry of 2s, as she reduced the gap to 6-7. It was at 18 seconds to go that Manisha launched her final turn and firmed up the grip for a decisive takedown to take the lead 8-7. It was leaving it for late, but the word around CR academy is she operates like the MS Dhoni of women’s wrestling. Capable of overturning any deficits, as her confidence and energy grows and she launches relentless counters with no fear of giving a few points away.Story continues below this ad
Dealing with grief
“The toughest time for her was when she lost her father. It took her some time to deal with that grief, but she has the junoon to be a champion wrestler. Three bronzes, no problem. She went to Amman confident she was good enough for gold. Now, the real big tournaments begin. Asian Games and World Championship,” Mandeep said.
Manisha is well known for insing that wrestling is a tapasya and it can take upto 20 years to finally find success.
“She is obsessed. She just got a job last year as a coach. But her focus on her training never wavers. She won’t give up till the last second. It’s aggression that comes from training continuously despite no instant success. Once on a roll, she’s unstoppable,” Mandeep assures. “She never saw losses as setbacks. She won’t see this win as something great either. It’s just a stepping stone. The World Championship is the target,” he said of the 29-year-old.
