Winning Olympics medal opened my eyes: Erica Wiebe

The last time Canada’s Erica Wiebe stepped onto a mat, she beat Kazakhstan’s Guzel Manyurova to clinch the 75 kg freestyle wrestling gold at the Rio Olympics.

The Canadian went on a 36-match winning streak in 2014, including winning the gold at the Commonwealth Games, she also won the gold at Golden Grand Prix 2015.

Wiebe is excited to be in India and to show off her skill in front of the local crowd at the Pro Wrestling League.

“I am so excited to be in India and to participate in PWL Season 2,” said Wiebe. “To be in India and to wrestle in a league in front of thousands of people, it’s like doing what I love to do.”

The Olympic champion might have the world at her feet, but Wiebe is not ready to sit back and relax and is eyeing a win at the World Wrestling Championships.

“I have never won a World Championship medal, so I would love to win that competition. There’s still a lot to do, I don’t wrestle to win tournaments, but I truly love the sport,” said the Canadian.

Wiebe pointed out that she’s hungrier than ever and it’s this desire that keeps her going.

“I am more motivated than ever. I feel and see so many things that I need to work on as I am wrestling. My eyes have opened up to a lot of new things since I won the Olympic gold. The internal desire and motivation is stronger than ever,” she said.

Wiebe said PWL has helped Indian wrestlers to improve their game, and bring money into the sport.

“Mumbai Maharathi last year had Sakshi Malik and then she went to win an Olympic medal at the summer games. It has helped in raising the calibre of India wrestlers and to put Indian on world wrestling map.

“There’s a huge financial incentive for us, there’s no other competition in the world that even comes close to the financial reward that we get for participating in this league.” added Wiebe.