CHANDIGARH: Dr Mahinder Singh Malik, vice president of the Asian Associated
 Wrestling Committee and member of International Wrestling Federation (FILA) congratulated the Indian team for the 'marked improvement' in the World Wrestling Championship held t Guangzhou (China) from September 25 to October 1.

Keeping in view the wrestlers' fine display in the various recent international competitions, Dr Malik urged the Indian Government and the Sports Authority of India to send Indian wrestlers for training abroad for the coming Doha Asian Games.

Malik, who is also president of the Haryana Wrestling Association, suggested that the men wrestlers should be sent for six-week training in Belarus while the women grapplers should be sent to Japan. "The Indian Indian wrestlers should continue to train till the Doha Asiad. From Belarus and Japan, the Indian wrestlers should straight go to Doha. Wrestlers would be the best bet in the Indian contingent for winning medals in the Doha Asiad," Malik said.

Praising the performance of the Indian team, Dr Malik, said that India on the second medal in the World Championship after a gap of 39 years as Alka Tomar of Uttar Pradesh clinched bronze medal in the 55 kg category for women. She earned the distinction of becoming the first Indian woman wrestler for the podium finish in the World Championship. Geeta  secured seveth position out of 27 competitors in the 55 kg  class.

Appreciating the achievement of Yogeshwar Dutt who finished a creditable fifth in the 60 kg freestyle category, Malik said out of seven Indian participants in the freestyle competitions in various categories, three succeeded in securing among the first ten positions. Indians were 12th in the freestyle team championship. Rohit Patel (96 kg) and Vinod Kumar (55 kg) also gave good performance. Vinod got seventh spot out of 30 competitors from all over the world. Rohit Patel finished 10th out of 27 wrestlers. 

Olympian Palwinder Singh Cheema (120 kg) obtained 11th position in the 120 kg class. There were 27 wrestlers in the fray in his category. However, in the Greco-Roman style, Indian wrestlers need to prepare themselves more hard. Mukesh Khatri (55 kg), Gurinder Singh (66 kg) and Rajbir Chhikara (74 kg) did their best but that was not enough.