Inam becomes Rustam-e-Pakistan

KARACHI: Pakistan’s premier wrestler Mohammad Inam on Friday won Rustam-e-Pakistan title, edging out Hamid Khan of Multan in the final at the Iqbal Stadium, Faisalabad.In front of a 20,000-strong crowd the two-time beach wrestling world champion did a glorious job to tame the skilled Hamid inside 18 minutes of the 30-minute fight.This was the first time for Inam to compete in mud wrestling.“I am very happy. By the grace of God I have also become Rustam-e-Pakistan today,” Inam told ‘The News’ after his victory. “I am also thankful to the crowd which backed me. Mud wrestling attracts larger crowds than mat wrestling. A stunning crowd had turned up today which was encouraging,” Inam said.He said that he would now switch his attention towards his future goals. “I will also take part in such mud wrestling events, but my focus will be on mat wrestling and beach wrestling. I have to appear in the Asian Championships and World Championships. I will also feature in the World Beach Games this year,” Inam said.“I will reduce my weight as I had raised my weight to around 97kg for this event. My opponent Hamid Khan’s weight was 125kg. I will now see in which weight category I should fight in mat wrestling,” Inam said.He is expected to be sent to Russia to prepare for the Olympic qualifiers.Meanwhile, Pakistan Wrestling Federation’s (PWF) secretary Arshad Sattar said that it was a thrilling final. “First Hamid attacked Inam, who bounced back with a great attack,” Arshad said.He said that the event would now be held after a gap of two years.“It will now be a regular feature. We could not hold it for seven years or so for various reasons. It’s a crowd-pulling sport and the crowd enjoyed it today,” Arshad said.Inam was handed over a purse of Rs500,000, while Hamid got richer by Rs250,000.Besides, Rs125,000 each was handed over to Tayyab Raza and Shehzad who shared the third spot as their fight ended in a tie.Two wrestlers from each unit of the PWF took part in the event, which was organised in Lahore, Bahawalpur and Faisalabad.

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