It was a proud moment for wrestling coaches Rupinder Kaur and Vinod Kumar Dahiya when eight students from their Melbourne National Wrestling Academy featured on the medal tally at the 2022 Youth National Wrestling Championships held in Sydney.
Rupali Dhiman ( 57 kg) and Jayden Singh ( 50kg) brought home the gold while
Vismad Dhillon (27KG) Afreen Kaur and Ekjot Sekhon (45 kg) took the silver and Shehraazdeep Kaur (63 kg), Angat Singh ( 60 kg) and Jannatpreet Kaur (45 kg) won the bronze.
Both Ms Kaur and Mr Dahiya are wrestling professionals who have received numerous medals and accolades including the Bharat Gaurav Award 2021. They are passionate about wrestling but they feel it often gets eclipsed by other sports.
“We want to pass on the wrestling skills, our knowledge, and experience to young children. Here, this is a less popular sport, said Ms Kaur who is a Commonwealth medallist.
She represented India to win the silver medal at the National Games and the bronze medal at the Commonwealth Championship.
An Olympic athlete Mr Dahiya has been the Victorian champion in 2011, 2012, and 2013. He has also been five times Australian National Champion from 2011 to 2015.
Mr Dhahiya said children in the academy enjoy their training routine.
“This sport is not only a physical game but a mind game too. It gives them confidence as well as they understand the concept of respecting all and elders which is a basic rule for wrestling” added Mr Dahiya
A mother of two Ms Kaur aspires to see the children from her academy at many national and International events.
“I want them to achieve all that I couldn’t, “ she said wistfully.
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