Pro Wrestling League: Epp Mae hopes to be the torch bearer of women’s wrestling in Estonia

Epp Mae was preparing to leave for Russia after holidays when she received an unexpected call. She was selected for the Pro Wrestling League in India in January and all of a sudden, she had to prepare for a new country. In fact, Mae thought that her close friend and training partner Petra Olli of Finland will be headed to India.

“It was unexpected. She is a world champion and we were thinking that I’ll have to train alone in Russia because Petra will be India. But here I am,” Mae says.

Mae is part of the UP Dangal franchise in the fourth edition of the PWL and has been unbeaten so far. In the four matches of UP, Mae has wrestled in three while she was blocked once.

So far, Mae has defeated Kiran of Haryana Hammers and Zsanett Nemeth of Mumbai in contrasting manner. But on Friday, she pinned Andrea Olaya in 27 seconds to show her dominance.

“I was lucky to go for my technique and she fell for it. To be wrestling with so many international players at one venue is a great experience. The Indian girls do not have to even spend money to get training with foreigners,” she says.

This is not the case for Esotina’s best female wrestler. Like India, Estonia doesn’t have a rich history in women’s wrestling.

Estonia held its first national championship for women when the category was first included in the 2004 Olympics. Mae had been wrestling for six years by then but had failed to get any competition at home.

Mae’s father was a national level wrestler and later became her coach while her brother went on to compete at the European championships at the junior level.

“I was introduced to wrestling by my father and I was training partner for my brother. I really liked the sport because it teaches you everything. Not only just competition but life as well,” says the 11-time Estonia wrestler of the year.

Beginning wrestling was not tough for Mae but finding competition was. No girls close to her home in Raveke wrestled. In fact, Estonia did not have any centres for women’s wrestling. So Mae decided to shuffle sports.

“I practiced judo. I had no competitions for wrestling. I even competed in triathlons. I liked competing in different sport. I wanted to grow up as an a allrounder,” she adds.

Mae even went for sumo competition as a way to relax from a more “emotional” wrestling.

But she never let her focus divert from wrestling and her bronze medal at the 2015 World Championships also earned her Estonia’s Sportsperson of the Year award.

“That (world championship medal) helped me qualify for the Rio Olympics. I became the first wrestler from Estonia in women’s wrestling. It was difficult to bring women to wrestling. There was no restrictions by religion but it was just not popular.”

No other women apart from Mae has represented Estonia at the senior world championships. Domestically, the number of wrestlers have grown but Mae thinks there’s still a long way to go.

“Estonia favours Greco-Roman wrestling more because it is historical and people watch football. For my category, there were only three girls in the 76kg at last national championships so it is not ideal,” she says.

The situation also affects Mae’s training. With no competition inside the country, she heads to Finland to train with 2018 world champ Olli.

“Petra is a really strong wrestlers but she is below my weight so I don’t have a 100 percent. But still the group is good and I am better mentally in Finland.”

The Estonia wrestling federation finances Mae’s wrestling needs along with the country’s Olympic committee but for that she needs to win medals at international events.

Last year, Mae finished fifth at three of the six competition she participated including the world championships in Budapest. While she still tries to find ways to finish at the podium, Mae thinks 76kg is one of toughest categories in the world.

“I think a lot of mental improvement is needed if I want to be better. Training against good partners and going to more competitions would help because the next two years are really important,” she says.

Coach Maksim Molonov, who has also accompanied her to India, says that a few technical tweaks for Mae can make her a stronger contender at the world level. “She is not the strongest when it is about weight because her natural body weight is not very high,” he says.

“On her day she is really dominant. But in the next two years she needs to be open to new opportunities and learn more tactics on the mat. She has the potential to be the best.”

For that, Mae has to be above some of the best women wrestlers currently in the world which include four-time world champ Adeline Gray, Rio Olympic champ Erica Wiebe, Aline Focken of Germany and former world champ Yasmin Adar.

“There are girls from China and Nigeria as well. It’s a difficult class and unluckily or luckily I have always been on the tougher side of the draw,” she says.

But the former European champion doesn’t want that to be an excuse. Going into the Tokyo Olympics cycle, Mae just wants to move on from the disappointment of Rio, where she lost in the pre-quarterfinals to China’s Zhang Fengliu.

“I have defeated her as well so it’s just a matter of who is in the right frame on the given day. I just want to be injury free and mentally stronger going into Olympics.”