Asian champion Divya Kakran has restricted her sparring to only ‘Greco-Roman’ moves as she is confined to her home due to the lockdown.
Divya, who lives with her younger brother Deepak and friend Neena in Delhi, is focusing on her fitness apart from doing some sparring. “My brother is over 100kg and my friend, who is also a guide for me, is around 50kg, so I get to spar with higher and lower weight wrestlers. Since there is no mat, we spar like Greco-Roman wrestlers without any ground wrestling,” Divya told Sportstar .
“I am consulting my coach Vladimir Mestvrishvili on a daily basis and training around five hours a day.”
Divya, who will turn 22 next month, said her game improved after being guided by Mestvrishvili. “Earlier, I used to do a lot of futile effort. The coach told me where to focus and the importance of applying techniques. I used to get overawed by the reputation of my opponents. He told me any laurel is a thing of the past and every contest is a fresh start.”
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Winning the Asian title was a huge confidence booster for Divya. “I beat a World junior champion, Naruha Matsuyuki of Japan, to become the Asian champion. It was a great morale-booster as I avenged my loss to her in the 2017 World under-23 championships.”
Divya, who secured bronze medals in 2018 Asian Games and Commonwealth Games, said she needed to work on three areas to claim a spot in the Tokyo Olympics. “I need to fight fearlessly, use techniques at the right time and enhance my stamina.”
Divya is working to become mentally stronger as well. “In the middle of the lockdown, I was a bit irritated. My friend Neena said, if you were injured then you would have taken six months to a year to recover. At least you are able to do something, so have some patience.
“I am listening to motivational speakers to make myself mentally stronger,” said Divya.
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