Bilal seeks another lengthy training tour after US journey

LAHORE: The country’s gutsy wrestler Mohammad Bilal, who is undergoing training in the US, said on Wednesday that they need another lengthy offshore training programme until the Asian Olympic Qualifiers to be held in April.

“Look, we are here in the US undergoing training and after three to four days we are set to return. In order to build on our training experience here we need another lengthy training tour either of Iran or Russia which should last until the Asian Qualifiers,” Bilal told The News from Boston.

Bilal and Zaman Anwar have been training in the US for the last 40 days or so.

The country’s premier wrestler Mohammad Inam accompanied him when they were in Chicago but he returned early due to his local mud wrestling commitment in Bahawalpur.

“If we don’t get another training tour for a couple of months then we will not be able to build on our training which we did here,” Bilal stressed.

“We are training here at a university. We have also a few national champions of the US with us and we have learnt some lessons. But we don’t have any more time and that’s a big issue,” Bilal was quick to add.

“National camp in Pakistan will be of no benefit. What we need is foreign training,” Bilal reiterated.

Pakistan Wrestling Federation (PWF) had sent the top wrestlers to US for training for one and a half month not realising that the Christmas and New Year celebrations would waste many days.

“We underwent top training for ten to 15 days. But after that a huge break came due to Christmas and New Year celebrations and it wasted our two weeks. We are making every effort to learn. Let’s see how it goes,” Bilal said.

“We are also focusing on fitness and are learning from the system here,” Bilal said.

“The issue is that when you come abroad you take around two weeks in adjustment. When we got adjusted their vacations started. It is important to stay for three months at a single place and learn the things. But still we have trained hard and we have three to four days at our disposal. We will look forward to build on it,” Bilal said.

He thanked PWF for providing them with such a fine training opportunity ahead of the Olympic Qualifiers.

After having failed to get through the World Championship in Serbia last September, which was a qualifying round for the Paris Olympics, national grapplers have two more chances to press for the Olympics seats.

The Olympic Games Asian Qualifiers are slated to be held in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, from April 19-21 while the Olympic Games World Qualifiers are scheduled to be

held in Istanbul from

May 9-12.

Top two in each weight category at the Asian Qualifiers will qualify for the Olympics while top three in each weight at the World Qualifiers will make it to the Olympics.