The new international wrestling superpower

[maligned]

I don't know if anybody else noticed, but India's women will be a wrestling superpower going forward--clearly battling for top 2 or 3 and possibly battling Japan for team golds. They destroyed everyone at U17s, and they're in a nip-and-tuck battle with Japan for the U20 title today heading into the medal matches.

U20: First after Day 1 of women's with 3 medals and 5 top 10s. Wrestling for 4 more medals and they're all Top 10 today. Again, it will be super tight between them and Japan for the team title. The U.S. will end up 3rd or 4th.

At U17s, India took 8 medals--including 5 golds . They obviously ran away with the team title, far outdistancing Japan in 2nd. We were 5th at that event.

[Interviewed_at_Weehawken]

40 minutes ago, maligned said:

I don't know if anybody else noticed, but India's women will be a wrestling superpower going forward--clearly battling for top 2 or 3 and possibly battling Japan for team golds. They destroyed everyone at U17s, and they're in a nip-and-tuck battle with Japan for the U20 title today heading into the medal matches.

U20: First after Day 1 of women's with 3 medals and 5 top 10s. Wrestling for 4 more medals and they're all Top 10 today. Again, it will be super tight between them and Japan for the team title. The U.S. will end up 3rd or 4th.

At U17s, India took 8 medals--including 5 golds . They obviously ran away with the team title, far outdistancing Japan in 2nd. We were 5th at that event.

If it were men, I'd mention probably credit it to "age cheating" which India has been suspected of for a long time.  

I'm not sure "age cheating" is as much of an advantage with women.

[maligned]

1 hour ago, Interviewed_at_Weehawken said:

If it were men, I'd mention probably credit it to "age cheating" which India has been suspected of for a long time.  

I'm not sure "age cheating" is as much of an advantage with women.

You might be right that that's part of it. Their age-group performances are stronger than their senior performances.  

But their age-group performances have been gradually stronger since at least 2018. They've never done anything resembling the destruction they unleashed at U17s this year.

I just mean, even if we sent our best 18 year olds instead of our best 16 year olds, would we win 8 of 10 medals and 5 golds? They're doing something right.

Edited September 6 by maligned

[Interviewed_at_Weehawken]

4 minutes ago, maligned said:

You might be right that that's part of it. Their age-group performances are stronger than their senior performances.  

But their age-group performances have been gradually stronger since at least 2018. They've never done anything resembling the destruction they unleashed at U17s this year.

I just mean, even if we sent our best 18 year olds instead of our best 16 year olds, would we win 8 of 10 medals and 5 golds? They're doing something right.

I don't think age cheating helps as much with women, who tend to mature and peak fairly early. (at least as far as physically) 

Yianni is on record saying that the Russian he wrestled for his first cadet world title was 20.  Vito was training at the guys club and they were joking about how old he was and how no one would beat him at cadets.

[jchapman]

India's population is more than 4X the population of the USA, so I guess we know one thing they are "doing right."

[Interviewed_at_Weehawken]

6 minutes ago, jchapman said:

India's population is more than 4X the population of the USA, so I guess we know one thing they are "doing right."

As KMF would say "if you know what I mean.  And you do know what I mean."

[meZYNbrink]

8 minutes ago, jchapman said:

India's population is more than 4X the population of the USA, so I guess we know one thing they are "doing right."

Population is their advantage, a strong history of traditional wrestling is another. But their facilities, developmental programs, and access to high quality training from a young age is a detriment. I'd say they are doing very well.

[Interviewed_at_Weehawken]

51 minutes ago, jchapman said:

India's population is more than 4X the population of the USA, so I guess we know one thing they are "doing right."

They've got 30 million on China and they are going to continue growing while China will start to shrink in the next year or so (maybe already).

[Yellow_Medal]

I thought this was going to be about Japanese Men’s Freestyle. With their Olympic and U20 performances, it looks like they could be top team contenders in both M and W for some time.

[CHROMEBIRD]

Any thoughts on what's behind their improvements in wrestling?

[maligned]

On 9/7/2024 at 2:18 PM, Yellow_Medal said:

I thought this was going to be about Japanese Men’s Freestyle. With their Olympic and U20 performances, it looks like they could be top team contenders in both M and W for some time.

In 150+ attempts since 1984, Japan has won 2 world-level men's freestyle medals above 74kg. 

In fact, from roughly 650 medals above 74kg since 1984, only 6 men have won medals from documented smaller stature Asian wrestling nations (meaning Japan, India, N/S Korea, China, Mongolia).

With half of weights above 74kg, Japan's men will never come close to team gold again unless they can duplicate their perfect performance in a 6-weight olympic year like this year.

[DJ4903]

India is improving because they improve slowly the quality of their training.

training centers are better, many foreigners are working or was working in India.

Wrestling is one of the most popular sport behind cricket, even for women.

there is a strong tradition of wrestling in this country.