Mor wants more: Newly-crowned World No. 1 Sarita says ‘it’s Olympic gold or nothing for me’-Sports News , Firstpost

Sarita Mor (in orange) competes against her Mongolian rival Shoovdor Batarjav in a file photo. UWW

Dropping just two points on way to her first international gold medal of the season in Kazakhstan last week, Sarita Mor seemed determined about her objective at the prestigious Bolat Turlykhanov Cup. This was her first international competition after the 27-year-old wrestler from Delhi conceded her two-time Asian Championship crown for bronze last April.

“World No. 2 bane hue the kaafi dino se, acha mauka tha No. 1 banne ka, to jaan laga di (I was World No. 2 for a while, this was my opportunity to become World No. 1 so gave it my all),” says Sarita upon reaching Delhi on Tuesday morning.

The World Ranking series didn’t just take her to World No. 1 spot in the 59kg category but also allowed her the opportunity to settle an old score with Mongolian wrestler Shoovdor Batarjav, who handed an opening round-robin defeat to Sarita at the Asian Championship weeks ago. And unlike the narrow 1-2 defeat in Ulaanbaatar, this time Sarita took down her opponent with little discomfort 5-0.

The much-needed charge wasn’t a mere coincidence as the wrestler from Delhi’s Rohini explains that she had more than a helping hand in her better half Rahul Mann, who is also her personal coach.

“My husband Rahul likes to read all my opponents beforehand for every competition, especially those who defeated me. He studies all their bouts through videos and sends me feedback before the competition. He remembers all my opponents by their name and always has important notes to share,” says Sarita.

Rahul himself is no novice to wrestling as the six-time national champion has multiple international medals to his name (including two Asian Championship and three Commonwealth Championship medals).

The husband-wife duo, married in 2017, competed together in international and national arena until 2018 when Rahul’s constant struggles with injuries forced him to call time on his career at just 29.

File photo of Sarita Mor with husband and former wrestler Rahul Mann. Sarita Mor/Instagram

“Our elders suggested that it would be better if one of us pursued wrestling with the other being the helping hand,” says Rahul, who reached the airport at 6 AM in the morning to receive her wife. “Since I was 29 back then and Sarita was 23, it seemed logical for me to help her out as she had a long wrestling career in front of her. Today when she has become World No. 1, I couldn’t be more happy and proud. I am living my incomplete dreams to her.”

Setting sights on Olympics and Worlds

However, despite her supremacy, 59kg being a non-Olympic category means there’s only so much she can do beyond a certain level. In fact, the World Championship gold medal would be the apex of her success in the category. Will that be enough?

“Ji bilkul nahi (Certainly not)!” says Sarita. “There’s nothing more important than an Olympic gold medal and all this hard work is for that ultimate dream. That’s why this will be the last of me competing in the 59 kg category. I have another World Ranking series to participate in 10-day time in Italy. After that, I will likely solely focus on 57kg category.

“This doesn’t mean I don’t care about World Championship because I still want to be the first Indian woman to win World Championship gold medal but I wish to do so in the 57kg category.”

Switching to 57kg comes with a separate set of challenges and the biggest one would be clearing the domestic circuit hurdle as she would have to face the likes of Anshu Malik and Pooja Dhanda. Sarita is familiar with the two competitors as the former also ended her 2022 Commonwealth Games ambition recently. Facing off in the 57kg national trials last month, Anshu got better of Sarita twice to book her Birmingham ticket. But a closer look at the result suggests that Sarita has a case and it is Anshu who will have to worry about her Olympic ambitions.

The duo faced each other twice at the trials in Pune with Anshu defeating Sarita by the narrowest of margins on both occasions; 6-5 in round-robin and 2-1 in the final. While the round-robin encounter saw Anshu pull off a four-point move to make her a worthy winner, it was the final encounter that tested the 20-year-old young prodigy’s might. Picking two single points within the first half, Anshu dug deep in her defence to battle an aggressive Sarita for the last 3 minutes of the bout (Watch the video of the final bout in the link below). The refereeing decisions that day came under question as Anshu faced no caution for her ultra-defensive approach but Sarita holds no grudge.

“Khel me to haar jeet hote rehta hai (One either wins or loses in sports) and Anshu is not the sole competitor in the category. There is Pooja and others as well and I am taking nobody lightly. My objective is very clear, I have to work so hard that any refereeing decision or external factors won’t decide if I am going to win or not. It’s Olympic gold or nothing for me,” concludes Sarita.

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