Wrestler Bilal says he learnt a lot during recent training in US

LAHORE: Pakistan’s seasoned wrestler and Olympic medal hope Mohammad Bilal has said that he has learnt a lot during his recent trip of the United States which will benefit him in his wrestling career.

“It was no doubt an excellent tour and on the trip I have learnt a lot of new things and will want to implement them,” Bilal told ‘The News’ after returning from the US.

Bilal was accompanying by another solid wrestler Zaman Anwar and the duo underwent training and competitions in three major cities of the United States for more than a month.

“They (US wrestlers) train on mat more. They train on mate for a couple of hours in the morning and then do so around two to three hours in the evening also. And this is what we lack.

We do some gym work in the morning and in the evening we go for mat training for one or two hours. If you work on mat more it will make you stronger in all areas also including speed,” Bilal said.

“Yes, good things were learnt. For the last two days I have been training at Gujranwala. Whatever we can do individually we are doing. Had we stayed for a couple of more months in the US it could have helped us and could have prepared well for the Olympics Qualifiers,” Bilal said.

“In the US wrestlers who were sparring with us would ask us why we don’t get more exposure and our answer was that we lack financial support,” Bilal said.

“Besides the areas which I highlighted there was no big difference if we compare the US wrestlers with our wrestlers,” Bilal said.

“They were little bit good in technique and are mentally strong. We can little bit match with them in speed. If you train with tough players more you get improved,” Bilal said.

Asked about the club structure of the US and its treatment of their quality wrestlers Bilal said that they are far better and give due respect to their wrestlers.

“They award scholarships to wrestlers playing in colleges and universities. Their world and Olympic champions come from colleges and universities,” he said.

“Their clubs are professional and pay wrestlers hugely,” Bilal was quick to add.

Asked whether they need any national camp to prepare for the Olympics Qualifiers Bilal said there is no need of that.

“There is no benefit of national camp. What we need is one month foreign training if possible in February and that would help us. National camp is just wastage of time and money,” he said.

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 for pressing 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.