Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s top wrestlers will be competing at the Commonwealth Championship 2017 in South Africa, with the Pakistan Wrestling Federation (PWF) confident of Muhammad Inam and Muhammad Bilal both winning gold medals in their respective categories. PWF secretary general Muhammad Arshad Sattar feels the entire wrestling contingent is very talented but the aforementioned duo stands out from the rest. “We’ve sent the best squad that we could’ve,” Sattar said. “We are expecting at least two gold medals but the other seven wrestlers are also in good form. Inam is not competing in his usual weight category of 86kg, but we also know that he has a better chance in this 96kg event.”

Regarding the competition’s format, he added: “The championships will have Greco-Roman competitions first, in which eight of our wrestlers will participate, but we have our best chances in freestyle categories where all of our nine athletes are scheduled to compete.” Sattar further said that the championship will be a good test for the wrestlers as 2018 is expected to be a busy year for them, with the Asian Wrestling Championship coming in February followed by the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast and Asian Games in Jakarta.

“The Commonwealth Championship will be a tough competition but more importantly a good way for us to see which wrestlers are up to the mark before 2018 begins as we have major events coming up,” he said. “The preparations will carry on once they return from South Africa too.”

Published in Daily Times, December 14^th 2017.