World Wrestling Championships 2019: Divya Kakran says her preparation now will be for Olympic medals, not for qualification

New Delhi: India’s Divya Kakran was eliminated in her first bout at the World Wrestling Championships 2019 in the 68kg weight class. The 2018 Asian Games bronze medallist had a tough first round clash against the reigning Olympic champion Sara Dosho of Japan at the event in Kazakhstan’s Nur-Sultan. After coming to India, Kakran said that she is not perturbed by the loss at the Worlds but is looking at the takeaways from her first-round ouster.

Speaking to Firstpost, she said, “I gave my best. When two wrestlers fight, one has to lose. It does not feel great when you lose but you have to look at the positives also. When you lose, you come to know of your weaknesses. In my view, I did not lose but I learnt a lot. If despite my weaknesses I had won, I might have not come across the weaknesses in my game or I may have ignored them. Now is the time to work on those negatives.”

Kakran said that she reinvented her attacking moves for Worlds and had tweaked her approach as well but they did not come off well at the mega event in Nur-Sultan.

“Earlier I used to fight with a one-dimensional attack. I was losing against good wrestlers because of this. In the World Championships, I had decided to keep my attacking moves for later stages and only when the opponent’s movement demanded it. I wanted to be more patient with attacking. I have also worked hard on double-leg and single-leg takedowns and tried to implement them at Worlds but they did not come off well this time. But I am not worried about that. I know I will be better at them with time,” she said on the sidelines of the Zee Kushti Dangal launch in the national capital.

Kakran will now be eyeing the qualifications in March next year. Till then, she has a busy schedule with the nationals, and the Pro Wrestling League also lined up. She also wants to take part in the Kushti Dangal which begins in November, saying that she does not want to miss any opportunity which could help her get better before the Olympics.

“My preparation now will be for the Olympic medals and not for qualifications,” said Kakran.