I was given the job, as chairman of the Cricket Affairs Committee, to pick the various selectors, coaches, managers and trainers for the upcoming season. Maninder Singh then scored a few quick points and Bengal started fighting back. Before that, Schumacher won five consecutive titles from 2000-04. A WFI official said Indians did that out of ‘generosity’ and to teach the French youngsters a few tricks. The team was to leave for the tournament on July 13 but applied for visa just three days prior to their departure. “But it wasn’t an ideal scenario so close to the championship,” the official said. Jacomelli used his local contacts and ultimately, the team made a 350km journey to Lorraine, a tiny town bordering Germany where they trained at the Stiring-Wendel wrestling club. The property, an architect’s home built in the 1950s, is on a hillock and has 5,000 square metres of grounds and an indoor pool, a real estate professional said. Harkeerat won the third game 11-8 before Aariv pocketed the fourth and final game 11-9 to win the title. Instead, they grappled with 14, 15 year-old French wrestlers who were the trainees of a local wrestling club in the border town of Lorraine.