Surprise Wrestling Worlds finalist Neelam looks to make most of opportunity

Neelam Sirohi is neither from the wrestling heartland of Haryana nor does she have the pedigree of India's previous world medallists. Yet, the 26-year-old is now one win away from making history.

Before the Wrestling World Championships in Astana began, few would have predicted that Neelam Sirohi would go further than almost any other Indian woman in the tournament's history.

On Tuesday, the 26-year-old assured herself of at least a silver medal when she beat Asian Games bronze medallist Zeynep Bayanova 7-3 in the semifinals of the women's 50kg category. She had earlier beaten former Youth Olympic champion Natallia Varakina of Belarus in her opening round before advancing by forfeit after Elizaveta Smirnova of Russia was forced to withdraw from her quarterfinal match due to injury.

Before Astana, only nine Indian women had ever reached the podium at the tournament, and just one of them, double Olympian Anshu Malik, had reached the final. Neelam would later be joined in the final by Kajal Dhochak, a two-time junior World Champion. The 26-year-old Neelam did not have anything close to the pedigree of Anshu, Kajal or most of India's previous medallists. Over the course of her career, she has never medalled at an Asian Championships. She has never represented India at an Asian Games. She has competed at two previous senior World Championships, losing early on both occasions.

Neelam is not even from Haryana, India's wrestling heartland, from where all but one of the country's previous women's world medallists hail. She is from Phenchari, a village near the pilgrimage city of Mathura in western Uttar Pradesh. The region once had a tradition of wrestling, but that had all but dried up in recent years.

"Mathura had one very famous wrestler, Captain Mukhtiar Singh, in the 1970s. He took part in the World Championships and also won two gold medals in the Commonwealth Games (in 1966 and 1970). After that, we had a few mitti ke pehelwan (wrestlers who competed in dangals fought on mud), but there wasn't any real success," says Neelam's father, Kunwar Pal Singh Sirohi.

Although his own father had wrestled in the Indian Army, Kunwar, like most of his generation, had not. He works in the telecommunications business. "I didn't know that there was any potential in wrestling. So I studied. I thought Neelam would study as well. Later, when I got a job in New Delhi, I moved there, although my family stayed in Mathura," he says.

However, while Kunwar had not wrestled, his sister had married into a family that had. "My jijaji (brother-in-law), Janardhan Singh ji, had competed and won titles at the National level. After his marriage, he had shifted to Mathura. Just out of habit, he started training Neelam and her brothers at home," recalls Kunwar Pal.

There was no real expectation of future success back then. Initially, Janardhan Singh was even a little sceptical about training the young girl. But Neelam was insistent. "One day, when I was still deciding whether I should let her train, I told her that girls can't become good wrestlers. That time she told me, ' mujhe kuch karna hai (I want to do something)'. She told me she would become a much bigger wrestler than I was. At that time I didn't really believe it, but I admired her confidence," Janardhan says.

Conservative neighbours were against the idea, too. "They said, Kunwar Pal ji, why are you letting your daughter wrestle? It is not done," he recalls.

She did not win them over immediately, but Janardhan soon realised that she had talent. He understood that he would not be able to provide her with the resources or training she needed. "He called me up and said I needed to take Neelam to Delhi because she had real talent," Kunwar Pal recalls.

At first, Kunwar took his daughter to New Delhi's Chhatrasal Stadium, since it was the only academy he knew, only to find that only boys and men trained there.

He then located an academy in Dwarka that did train women. But that came with its own challenge. "At that time I was living in a rented house in Uttam Nagar. The academy was 11 kilometres away. I had my own job, so I couldn't take Neelam to train there," he recalls.

Neelam, though, insisted that she would go. It was not a prospect her father was looking forward to.

"She told me to show her the way to the academy once. After that, she would cycle by herself to that academy. Initially, I was very unsure. She was only 12 years old. Any father would be worried about his young daughter travelling so far on a cycle in a big city. But uska himmat itna tha ki usko nahi rok sakta tha (She had so much courage that I couldn't stop her)," he says.

That start was what Neelam needed. Her progress was systematic, although not spectacular. She moved through State and National tournaments, made the Indian team and competed at the Under-17 World Championships in Athens in 2017, becoming the first wrestler from her district to take part in a World Championships in nearly 50 years.

"It changed a lot of perceptions. The same people who had told me, Kunwar ji, why are you letting your daughter wrestle, now come and say how she has made our region proud!" Kunwar Pal recalls.

These days, Neelam has a lot more support. She is employed by the Railways and sponsored by the Reliance Foundation, which provides her with a physio and nutritional support.

But although Neelam had made her first appearance at an international championship in the age-group category, it would be harder for her to break through at the senior level. Some of that was down to the nature of the women's 50kg division, historically one of the most competitive weight categories in Indian freestyle wrestling. And although she got a few chances, she was unable to make them count.

Despite it all, Neelam never stopped believing and waiting for her chance. She finally got it at the selection trials for the World Championships, earning the opportunity to compete at the tournament for the third time. "She always had the ability, but this year everything has come right for her. She has peaked at the right time," says national coach Virender Singh, who has also been training Neelam at his academy in New Delhi's Najafgarh for the past couple of years.

She has also admittedly had a bit of luck. She faced a potentially tricky match against world No. 1 Smironova in the quarterfinals, but the Russian was forced out after suffering damage to her cornea when her opponent poked her in the eye during her pre-quarterfinal bout.

To her credit, Neelam has made the most of her opportunity, beating two tricky opponents to move within one win of a historic title. That, however, would be her biggest challenge yet. Standing in her way is four-time World champion Yui Susaki, who has never been beaten at this tournament and has not conceded a point in Astana.

Neelam has wrestled the Japanese twice and lost on both occasions. Her coach, though, remains hopeful. "Being assured of a world medal, she will wrestle freely. Susaki is the favourite, but Neelam has nothing to lose," says Virender.

Regardless of how the bout goes, he is also optimistic about the future. "Even winning a medal at the World Championships is a huge achievement. The Olympics are just two years away. This result will only build her confidence for that competition," he says.