Veteran wrestler Billal Hossain is on course to win the national wrestling championship title for the 12th time, and is still going strong.
The 40-year-old wrestler took less than a combined minute to clinch both his games in the first two rounds of the opening day of the national event.
The Walton 38th National Senior Men’s and 8th National Women’s Wrestling Championship got underway at Sheikh Russel Roller Skating Complex in the capital’s Paltan area yesterday where Billal, playing for Border Guard Bangladesh, beat his first-round opponent in only 36 seconds before winning the second round against Bangladesh Army’s Abdul Mazid in less than 25s in the 97+kg weight category.
The legend of Billal in wrestling has been going so strong till now that everyone, including his opponents, knew before the game who would win it.
The only thing remained to be seen is how many seconds he would take to beat the oppositions.
Billal also said there were games he won in seven-seven seconds.
Billal began his wrestling career in 2004 when he competed in the 74+kg weight category.
Since then he has won every national competition he took part in.
There was change in the weight category from 84kg to 120+kg, but nobody could pose a threat to Billal’s dominance.
Billal also claimed the bronze medal in the same category (74+) of the Asian Wrestling Championship in Kazakhstan in 2014.
But he termed winning the hat-trick of bronzes in the South Asian Games as the biggest achievement of his career.
Billal is still the best in his event at home, but his current international standard is not up to the mark.
There is also a lack of wrestlers of his calibre in the pipeline.
Billal said, “The number of participants has been decreasing every year. There are many reasons; first, there is no future here, no new faces, no plan by the federation to bring young generation and give them training.”
Billal, who is likely to win his 13th title after the third round today, continued, “It’s good when the opponents offer challenges but there is no one to compete against me. Now I feel no joy of winning any game in this competition.”
