Don't want to let go this chance, says Oly-bound grappler Amit

SONEPAT: Inexperience may be a handicap for Amit Kumar Dahiya, the youngest wrestler in the Olympic-bound Indian team, but the 19-year-old has been relentlessly trying to make it up with sheer hardwork, determination and tips from his coaches and seniors ahead of the London Games. With the Games just around the corner, Amit has been training rigorously at the Sports Authority of India (SAI) centre here. "Experience can be a factor, but I don't want to let go this chance. An Olympic medal can change one's life and I know what it means to win a medal at the big stage," said Amit. The warm send-off given to his seniors Sushil Kumar and Yogeshwar Dutt before the 2004 Athens Olympics, has always fascinated Amit. "I am trying to improve on every aspect of my game, the coaches have been very helpful, particularly the foreign coach. I am trying to minimise my mistakes," said the 55kg wrestler, as he sweated it out on the horizontal bar doing a round of chin-ups after running around the sprawling campus in the early morning sun. "I am totally new to many of my opponents, they don't have much of an advantage when it comes to watching my videos and strategising against me, which is going to work in my favour," he pointed. Chief coach Vinod Kumar, naturally, was impressed with the efforts, the hours Amit has been putting on training. "He is an extremely talented kid, if anything that can hold him back it is his inexperience at the big stage," said Vinod, who is working hard on the London-bound wrestlers along with Yashvir Singh and Georgian recruit Vladimir Mestavisili. Amit also mentioned that he had the likes of Sushil Kumar and Yogeshwar Dutt to fall back on for advice. "Sushil and Yogeshwar are always there to help me out. Being with them is of great help. They keep on telling me how and when to do the things in my game," he said. Amit was just eight when he started out in a nearby akhara in Nihari village here, before his childhood coach Hansraj took him to the Chhatrasal Stadium in 2001. An Asian Junior Champion in Indonesia in 2011, Amit surprised one and all with his skills, winning a gold medal at the invitational meet in US earlier this year. His bronze-medal finish at the Asian Championships and a gold in the first qualifier in Astana, has made everyone believe that there is a champion in the making. However, the youngster doesn't get bogged down by the weight of expectations. "There is minimum pressure on me, so I want to utilise this opportunity to the best of the effect," he pointed. Meanwhile, his more experienced counterparts believe that Amit can finish on the podium. "He is very talented, no doubt about that and in the weight category he is contesting in he can definitely make his way through," said Yogeshwar, who also started in the 55kg category when he represented India at the Olympics. Beijing Olympics bronze medallist, Sushil, endorsed Yogeshwar's view. "Although he is new at the senior level, he has been around for sometime. He has got a good set of skills and in his category he can be a handful," Sushil said.