SUVs for Indian cricketers but medal-winning female wrestlers have to split one buffalo

Indian amateur wrestlers participate in a friendly wrestling competition. Picture/ AFP

While young cricketers like T Natarajan, Shardul Thakur, Shubman Gill, Washington Sundar, Navdeep Saini and Mohammed Siraj get SUVs for their stellar performance in Australia, medal-winning wrestlers may have to split a buffalo.

With more physical strength probably needed to pin down opponents on a wrestling mat than to hurl a 156 gram cricket ball, it makes sense to gift wrestlers an endless supply of protein. But when the buffalo to be awarded is one and winners are many, the authorities can be caught in a bind like the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) was on Sunday.

"On the final day of the National Women Wrestling Championships in Agra, a local sports enthusiast expressed his desire to give buffalo worth Rs 1.5 lakh to the best athlete of the event; this was announced by WFI chief (Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh) on the public address system," Dronacharya Awardee Mahavir Prasad told IANS.

According to Prasad, a committee was set up to decide the best wrestler of the event that concluded on Sunday.

But with multiple medal winners, it was tough to decide on who will carry home the buffalo. The committee couldn't reach a decision and therefore did not announce the best wrestler.

WFI is now mulling over different options. One of the options is to distribute the price of the buffalo -- Rs 1.5 lakh -- among medal winners and the other is to give it to some akhara (where wrestlers train).

At the moment, the buffalo is in WFI's custody in Agra.

Winners' list:

53 kg:

1. Nandani (Maharashtra), 2. Mamta Rani (Delhi), 3. P. Bidyarani (Manipur) and Pooja Jaat(MP)

59 kg:

1. Sarita (Railways), 2. Sanju Devi (Haryana), 3. Neha (Delhi)and Anjali (Haryana)

65 kg:

1. Nisha (Railways), 2. Monika (Rajasthan), 3. Jaspreet Kaur (Punjab) and Nikki (Railways)

68 kg:

1. Anita (Haryana), 2. Rajani (UP), 3. Raunak Gulia (Delhi) and Ritu Malik (Railways)

76 kg:

1. Kiran (Railways), 2. Rani (HP), 3. Pooja (Haryana) and Kajal (Uttarakhand)

Team position:

1. Haryana (200 points), 2. Railways (163), 3. Delhi (119).

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