Yui Susaki’s India mission: Some light tourism, eat butter chicken and scope out Indian wrestlers

For once, Susaki has time on her hands. And that has meant doing things she usually wouldn’t be able to go for.

“I visited the Humanyun’s Tomb. It was such a great experience. The tournament is scheduled over a few days so I got the time to visit a tourist place,” Susaki told The Indian Express.

It has also meant that she has had the time to sample Indian food. Her teammates say that she has fallen for butter chicken and naan. There has also been the occasional chhole bhature for breakfast. Delhi’s food continues to be a tempter for the athletically inclined.

After tourism and food, though, Susaki retreats to the life she knows. Training, watching wrestling videos on her phone, and doing what she came to do in India – get a feel of wrestling different wrestlers.

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Brought in by the Steelers for Rs 60 lakh – the most for any wrestler in the league – Susaki is worth the investment. Almost a guaranteed win for her team, she has been the darling of the league. Any time she has entered the arena at the Noida Indoor Stadium, the roar for her has been the loudest. The Japanese star has also routinely obliged some of the youngest visitors at the stadium and stayed for pictures, autographs and perfunctory words.

Glance through her Wikipedia page and take a look at all the Olympic, World and Asian medals she has won – barring the Paris Olympic bronze – all of them are gold. Susaki, prior to Paris, was the unbeatable Japanese. She had won the Tokyo Olympic gold medal, not conceding a single point on her way to the top.

She has four individual World Championship gold medals – one in the 48 kg category, and three in the 50 kg. Paris, and the strategy of Vinesh Phogat to take the bout to its final few seconds before going out for a brazen attack – is the only blemish in the Japanese wrestler’s international resume. That is, if an Olympic bronze can be called a blemish.

Scanning competition

Since 2021, it’s India and Japan that are usually neck-and-neck competing for titles in the women’s freestyle age-group World Championships. The next step for the Indians is to turn that medal haul into sustained international success. Antim Panghal has been the first young Indian wrestler who has now started to become a top competitor internationally – she and Vinesh are the only two Indian women with multiple senior World Championship bronze medals.

Susaki has noticed this and feels the opportunity to wrestle young Indians – ones who may not make the national team but are still some of the best in India – has been of value.

“I heard Indian wrestlers are very strong. Then I came here to the league, and in the Haryana Steelers team, there are many young wrestlers who are good. They work very hard and have good mental strength,” says Susaki.

Ask her how Japanese wrestlers turn out to be so good, and there are no magic words. “Japanese wrestlers work very hard. We think a lot and focus on details. Wrestlers in Japan sometimes start at the age of 3 or 4. I started at the age of 7,” she says.

Susaki has also been playing the role of a senior wrestler within the team. Neha Sangwan, a promising 57kg wrestler, said that the 26-year-old took her aside and encouraged her after a loss in the PWL.

“When I lost a bout, she told me that I fought well and that the opponent wasn’t attacking and in her heart, I had won. These words encouraged me,” said Neha. “I’ve told her that I will also perform with her at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.”