Pakistan’s premier wrestler Inam Butt has implored relevant authorities to arrange foreign training camps for local athletes in order to help them prepare better for competition.
The 34-year-old pointed out that the country is full of wrestling talent but the lack of sufficient resources is keeping Pakistan on the back foot.
We have exceptional talent but you know we don’t provide our wrestlers foreign training. Without that you cannot develop your wrestlers and make them world beaters, Inam was quoted as saying by The News.
Look, besides me, we have Inayatullah and Mohammad Bilal who can qualify for the next year’s Paris Olympics but we cannot do that without foreign training. In foreign training, you play with the world’s top wrestlers and it helps you improve your skills, the two-time Commonwealth Games medallist added.
Inam Butt also has a clear destination in mind when it comes to his preferred place of training.
I will prefer Russian republic of Dagestan which is the hub of the world’s top wrestlers. If we are sent there by the state for four months training then I believe it will help us a lot to prepare well for the Olympics Qualifiers, he said.
Dagestan is renowned for producing some of the best wrestlers in combat sports including the UFC Hall of Famer Khabib Nurmagomedov.
Qualifying for the Paris Olympics should be the main goal of every federation associated with the Pakistan Olympic Association, including wrestling. Pakistan has missed several chances this year of securing their spots.
Due to the economic crunch facing the sporting world, Pakistan Wrestling Federation may not be able to send its athletes abroad meaning wrestlers like Inam may have to find a way to Paris the hard way.
