Ready to 'grapple'

Three State wrestlers Ajit Patil, Ranjeet Nalawade and Rahul Aware made the cut for the CYG team

Suhrid Barua, Pune Mirror, October 1, 2008

Ranjeet Nalawade (63 kg)
He's the second grappler from Kolhapur after Ajit Patil to make the cut for the CYG. A silver medallist at the National Sub-junior Championship in Jallandhar last April, Ranjit was up against some tough competitors in the selection trials. He was pitted against National sub-junior champion Sandeep of Haryana and 2008 Asian Cadet Wrestling Championship gold medallist Arun. But he seemed to reserve his best in front of a vociferous home crowd, first defeating Delhi's Arun before going to pin down Sandeep to seal his selection.

Rahul Aware (58 kg)

The 16-year-old Latur boy trains at the Gokul Vastad Talim under the tutelage of Harishchandra Birajdar. It was there that Rahul honed his skills on the mat in his pursuance of attaining bigger things in the sport. His selection in the CYG squad was pretty much on expected lines. Known to set high standards for himself, he was touch disappointed after winning the bronze medal at the 2007 Asian Cadet Wrestling Championship in Taiwan. This year, Rahul lifted his game up by a few notches and looked hungry for the gold medal as he won the same at the 2008 Asian Cadet Wrestling Championship in Tashkent. A potential gold medal candidate.

Ajit Patil (42 kg)

Inspiration can be a good thing to derive when one pursues a sport with utmost seriousness. Kolhapur wrestler Ajit Patil drew the maximum from his cousin brother Sandeep Patil (a former national level wrestler) in his bid to make a name for himself in the sport that is riding high after Sushil Kumar's bolt-from-the-bolt kind of bronze medal effort at the Beijing Olympics. Son of a farmer, Ajit has been in red-hot form off late. He won the gold medal at the Asian Cadet Wrestling Championships held in Tashkent, Uzbekistan last July. He followed that up scooping up a silver medal at the Children of Asia Games in Moscow.