"India's qualification to Jiu-Jitsu event at Asian Games is a big moment for sport": Siddharth Singh

New Delhi [India], June 29 : Indian Jiu-Jitsu fighter Siddharth Singh said that he is extremely happy to have qualified for the upcoming Asian Games this year and added that the country's qualification in Jiu Jitsu event at the continental multi-sport competition is a massive achievement for India.

Jiu-Jitsu first appeared in Asian Games in 2018. It is a combat sport based that involves a lot of ground fighting and strikes, holds, throws etc. India did not feature at the Jiu-Jitsu event during the 2018 Asian Games but have earned a qualification this time. Asian Games will be held in China from September 23 to October 8 this year.

"It feels really good. I have been promoting this sport in India since 2012 along with mixed-martial arts. When I started, people used to ask me what is the future of this sport in this country. Most of them told me there was no future. It is a big win for India that we are in Asian Games in Jiu Jitsu, and the sport has got recognition from Indian Olympic Association (IOA) as well. If this sport does good in Asian Games, it could become a part of the Olympics as well. This is a big achievement. From India, four weight categories of men and women each have been selected. I am in the 69 kgs category. The Indian team will try winning a medal for the country," said Siddharth in an interview with ANI.

"It is a big moment for Indian Jiu-Jitsu as we were waiting for an opportunity. When a sport is not a part of a multi-sport event like the Asian Games or Olympics, people feel that players are wasting their time with the sport. We made efforts in helping the sport grow, but we faced difficulties as it was not in Asian Games, was not recognized by the Olympics. Now we hope that government will support the sport, people will get to know about it and it will get the momentum to grow," he added.

On winning his 10th national level Jiu Jitsu title recently in Haldwani last week, Siddharth said that it was important for him to play at the event to qualify for the Asian Games. He is the first-ever player to win the 10th national-level title in the sport in India.

"I had played my last national championship two-three years back. I had no motive to compete in nationals after that. But this time around, the nationals were a big event because Asian Games teams were going to be selected on that basis. It was important for me to play the national and win it. It was held in Haldwani by Jiu-Jitsu Association of India last week. I won all my fights by submission, using kimura, armbar and triangle submission holds. It feels good. It is an important start not only for me, but India as well. It has become a standard that if you want to progress, you will have to prove yourself against top-class talent in competitions. I am a brown belt player, I compete with players of all belts, be it white, black etc. A lot of athletes do not play nationals when they reach the international stage, I am not like that. It will set an example for other international Indian talent. National players also get a chance to improve themselves when they get to fight international talent," said Siddharth.

Siddharth said that his training was not very special for the national championships.

"Vinay Kumar (JJAI president) said that we could be sent to Kazakhstan for our training for Asian Games," added Siddharth.

Talking about fighting competitions last year with injuries, Siddharth said that it was physically difficult for him but he had made up his mind to fight in competitions throughout the year to see how higher he could go in terms of ranking.

"COVID was in 2020, I wanted to play as many competitions in 2021 and 2022. International events help build rankings. I did not want to compete in just one event, but play all over the year. When you play at these competitions, you get points. I wanted to see how much higher ranking-wise I could go by doing so.

"I was confident in myself and decided to play all tournaments. But you have to see your environment too. Brazillian Jiu-Jitsu fighters just fight, play competitions. But I am an athlete, a coach and run businesses as well. Sometimes, I used to overtrain. Sometimes, while training others, I used to get injured. I did not consider all these things when I decided to play all the tournaments. My injuries troubled me. I had severe back injuries, I pushed myself hard but wanted to give the sport everything. I got a world ranking of 11 and an Asian ranking of fourth. We did not get medals earlier at any competitions. Now we got medals throughout the year. It was a history-making year, but it was difficult for my body," he added.

Siddharth said that the upcoming Asian Games could be his first and last.

"But, the upcoming players are talented. I am confident as a coach that I can create some special athletes and a team. Next time, I am confident that I would send a good team as a coach," he concluded.