Pakistani wrestler Bilal seeks foreign training camp to qualify for Olympics

• Bilal has demanded a camp for the 2024 Paris Olympics preparations.
• He also urged that training should be done abroad.
• Bilal has also called for launching a professional league.

Veteran wrestler Mohammad Bilal of Pakistan has demanded that a camp be set up right away in order to prepare for the 2024 Paris Olympics Qualifiers.

”The camp should be held immediately if we are to prepare for the Olympics Qualifiers,” Bilal told the media in a detailed chat.

“We held a camp for six months for the World Championship and Asian Games and if we delay the camp anymore for the Olympics Qualifiers it will incur huge damage as the wrestlers will have to start from zero and their six months’ hard work will be wasted,” said Bilal, who features in the 57 kilograms in international events.

The top three wrestlers from Pakistan competed in the September World Championships in Serbia, but none of them made it to the Olympics in Paris.

Now, the national grapplers have two more opportunities to secure spots in the Olympics. Next year, the top two grapplers in each weight class will advance to the Paris Olympics via a continental qualification competition. The gold, silver, and bronze medal winners as well as the victor of the match between the two athletes who finished in third place will advance to the Olympics in the final qualification competition, which will take the form of the 2024 World Qualification Event.

Next year, these activities are scheduled for April and May. In these qualifiers, Pakistan’s Muhammad Inam, Muhammad Bilal, and Inayatullah will be fielded. Bilal stated that a local camp alone would not be adequate and insisted that the government oversee a four-month training program conducted abroad.

“You know several times we went down to Olympic and world champions in major events. And each time we say that we need international training. I again say that we have three to four months and if we train on foreign soil then I am confident we will be able to qualify for the Olympics,” Bilal said.

”Look, if we only train here it will be of no use. We underwent training for six months for the Asian Games but no result was produced. There were 40 wrestlers in the camp and I don’t think it did any good to the country. If the same amount which was spent on the camp carrying 40 wrestlers is spent on top three or four wrestlers and if they are sent abroad then I am quite sure about some productive outcome,” Bilal stressed.

He said that Russia, Azerbaijan, and Kazakhstan will be the best training destinations.

“There we will also be able to get halal food. You know how important nutrition is for development of an athlete,” Bilal said.

He added that foreign training will help them develop their skills.

“The issue is here that we play and train with low-quality wrestlers and our techniques against them are productive but when we face the world’s top wrestlers then our techniques are not so much effective as the opponents excel us. In power and stamina, we are not inferior to them but in speed work, they have an edge over us,” Bilal said.

Bilal also called for launching a professional league.

“A professional league is the backbone and it helps you to produce the stuff for the national duty. If we get eight to ten fights during the league then it will help us a lot as far as skill development is concerned. The thing is that besides training you also need competitions to develop,” Bilal said.

“The more competitions you get the more polished you get,” Bilal signed off.

Pakistani wrestlers last featured in the 1960 Rome Olympics.

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