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Maharashtra Kesari: Small-town wrestler Jagtap lands the big-time gold medal
Future plans? “Whatever my coach decides,” says Jagptap, who defeated Aakash Bhingare of Ahmednagar, 8-2, to clinch the gold in the 86kg mud category at the ongoing 63rd Maharashtra Kesari at the Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex on Sunday.
PUNE Prashant Jagtap, who comes from the small town of Umbergaon, near Ichalkaranji, Kolhapur, is all coach-only when it comes to wrestling.
Future plans? “Whatever my coach decides,” says Jagptap, who defeated Aakash Bhingare of Ahmednagar, 8-2, to clinch the gold in the 86kg mud category at the ongoing 63rd Maharashtra Kesari at the Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex on Sunday.
Will you compete in the senior nationals? “Whatever my coach says,” is the stock reply.
Jagtap does not vocalise his thoughts. But, in the ring, he lets his wrestling do the talking. And that, won him gold.
“I am much more comfortable on mud. I know national and international tournaments happen on the mat, but I have still not decided anything about it... my coach will decide,” says Jagtap, when prodded.
Right from the start of the bout, Jagtap dominated, scoring points on every move. First he took a 2-0 lead, then again Jagtap scored point on double leg takedown to make it 4-0.
In the end, Jagtap completed the ‘front aaltho’ move to score 8 points and secure his 8-2 victory.
In the 70kg mud category, Nitin Pawar defeated Mchichandra Niwangare, of Kolhapur. Pawar secured a win via count back, after the end score was tied at four-all.
“Niwangare was good, but I managed to score a victory. Credit to my coach and brother who keep pushing me during practice. Now I want to focus on the senior nationals,” says Pawar.
In the 70kg mat category, Kalicharan Solankar of Solapur defeated Vikas Gore 11-5. In both the rounds, Solankar dominated the proceedings to secure the gold medal with ease.
In the 92kg mud category, Shubham Chauhan defeated Jaideep Gaikwad 8-0.
Results
70kg mud
Gold: Nitin Pawar, Kolhapur
Silver: Mchichandra Niwangare, Kolhapur
Bronze: Santosh Gawde, Solapur
86kg mud
Gold: Prashant Jagtap, Solapur
Silver: Aakash Bhingare, Ahmednagar
Bronze: Santosh Padalkar, Pune
70kg mat
Gold: Kalicharan Solankar, Solapur
Silver: Vikas Gore, Ahmednagar
Bronze: Yogeshwar Tapkir, Pimpri-Chinchwad
92kg mud
Gold: Shubham Chauhan, Solapur
Silver: Jaideep Gaikwad, Satara
Bronze: Amol Mundhe, Beed
Kolhapur’s “motya” and “barkya” are the twin twisters at Maharashtra Kesari
Identical twin brothers – Nilesh and Nitin Pawar - are used to creating confusion.
For the 24-year-old Kolhapur wrestlers, a 10-kg weight difference - Nilesh competes in 89kg weight category and Nitin in the 70kg - is not enough to tell them apart, in the ring or out of it.
In Pune to take part in the 63rd Maharashtra Kesari, ongoing at the Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex in Balewadi, all that separates the brothers is a gold medal.
Nitin clinched the gold defeating Michandra Niwangre in his category, while Nilesh fell short.
For those who know them, like their coach, Krishnat Patil, Nilesh is “motya” and Nitin, is “barkya”.
“Generally I can identify them but we had given them the nick names to tell them apart,” says Krishnat.
In 2008, the twins started practicing under coach Krishnat Patil and since then, have toughened up.
“Once we started training under the coach, we shifted our complete focus to wrestling,” says Nilesh.
“Both are hard working and our aim is to do well in the national and international tournaments,” says coach Patil.
