“Give me four minutes, I’ll return with the belt you left there,” Suraj Vashisht told an inconsolable Ronit Sharma moments before stepping.
On the mat for his Under-17 world wrestling championships final in Rome on Tuesday. Sharma had, moments ago, narrowly missed the 48kg gold, and it was left to Suraj to end India’s 32-year wait for a Worlds gold in Greco Roman.
Suraj walked the talk, though not exactly in four minutes. He decimated Azerbaijan’s reigning European Champion Faraim Mustafayev 11-0 in the 55kg clash to become only the third Indian after Vinod Kumar (1980) and Pappu Yadav (1990) to bag the U17 Worlds title.
“What do I say? It was the happiest moment of my life. I was on top of the world,” he said. “Just before the final, I was made aware of the fact that I can become the first Indian in three decades to win a Greco gold at world championships. Then, Ronit lost a very close bout, else the record would have gone to him. I decided I have to win it at any cost,” said the 16-year-old from Rohtak’s Rithal village.
A protege of coach Ranbir Singh Dhaka from the Guri Meher Singh Akhara, Suraj started wrestling about four years back. He began as a freestyle wrestler, but a knee injury forced him to try Greco Roman. He made the switch two years back.
“Suraj is a natural on the mat. His technique is still evolving, but his work rate is tremendous. If groomed well, he has the potential to do well at the senior level too,” said Dhaka.
Suraj is not shy of dreaming either. His goals, he states nonchalantly, are to “prove the world that Indians can be as good in Greco as they are in freestyle.”
“I also want to win the senior world championships and Olympic gold. I know no Indian has done it yet, but that doesn’t scare me. I’d like to lead the way,” he said.
His wrestling style is as aggressive as his ambition. Suraj prefers to go on the offensive early and accumulate quick points, with special emphasis on not conceding passivity. At the Worlds, he strung together a series of convincing wins, beating Romania’s Alexandru Vladut Varzari (9-0), Japan’s Kohaku Kanazawa (5-1), and Uzbekistan’s Khurshidbek Normukhammadov (7-3) before a flawless final.
“This World Championships was damn easy. I had fun winning it. I was never stretched,” said Suraj.
The win over Normukhammadov was particularly pleasing, coming as it did on the back of a 9-0 thrashing against the same opponent last month. Then, Normukhammadov took advantage of Suraj’s propensity to go for an early side attack and countered him easily.
“The loss to Normukhammadov was humbling. I just didn’t have any answers. I was determined to exact revenge,” he said.
The Indian had headed to a training camp in Bishkek that transformed his technique. “There has been a sea change in my grappling since that camp. I was raw and inexperienced and didn’t know much about techniques and grips, but sparring with international wrestlers and inputs from experienced coaches helped me a lot,” he said.
The camp also gave Suraj a chance to meet his idol, the 77kg Greco wrestler Roman Andreyevich Vlasov. “ I have been watching his videos for years and I want to model my game on him. It was surreal to meet him,” Suraj said of the double Olympic champion (2012, 2016).
Another meeting he cherished was with Tokyo silver medallist from Kyrgyzstan, Akzhol Makhmudov. “He gave me a simple tip that improved my wrestling by leaps and bounds. He just told me to grip the opponent on joints. Earlier, if I had to grab an opponent’s hand, I would hold his arm. Makhmudov told me to grab the wrist or joints to stop them from wriggling out of my control. I used that tip in the final and won.”
Coach Inderjeet Singh, who travelled with the team to Rome, agreed. “Like most Indian Greco wrestlers, Suraj had strength and endurance but was weak on the technical front. That camp taught him a lot,” he said. “He is a very quick learner, and I see a long and successful career for him.”
In addition to Suraj’s gold and Ronith’s silver, Manish (51kg) defeated Turkey’s Ali Sumbul to win a bronze.