Sushil Kumar takes battle for Rio shot to court

The battle to represent India in the 74kg freestyle category at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics this August intensified on Monday when two-time Olympic medallist Sushil Kumar moved the Delhi high court seeking a trial bout against Narsingh Yadav who secured India’s quota berth at the World Championship in Las Vegas last year.

Despite not having fought on the mat for the last two years, Sushil is keen to fight for a shot at the Summer Olympics. He has been left out of the preparatory camp for Olympics quota place winners that starts in Sonepat on Wednesday.

“Forget about my two Olympics medals, world champion belt and many other medals for India. All I am asking for is a fair trial and let the best man go,” Sushil tweeted, while launching ‘#justice4sushil’.

While most of Sushil’s acquaintances have maintained silence on the issue, it has been his coach and father-in-law Satpal Singh who has been pushing for the ace wrestler’s trial bout. “Narsingh is good but if Sushil goes, he will fight for the gold medal, nothing less,” Satpal, a former Asian Games gold medallist himself, was quoted as saying.

Seeking a trial, Satpal added, “Sushil could not go for the Olympic qualification tournaments or face Narsingh in the trials until now as he was recovering from a shoulder injury. But he is fit now and ready to face the challenge.” His stature and back-to-back Olympic medals (in 66kg category) notwithstanding, Sushil has not participated in any major event since the 2014 Commonwealth Games owing to an injury. At Glasgow, he came away with gold.

The rejig in weight categories in 2013 has gone against Sushil as he had done very little in the 74kg class while Narsingh has proved his credentials with a quota place by claiming a bronze at the 2015 World Championship.

It was India’s first quota place in wrestling for Rio. Narsingh has said, “I respect Sushil a lot and what he has achieved in wrestling is unparalleled. But my performances have been improving every year and I feel I deserve to be there.”

Meanwhile, a WFI official told this paper, “In the last three-four years, the WFI has traditionally been sending athletes who won quota places in qualifying events. So the federation is not keen on conducting trials. That would also hamper preparations of the Rio-bound wrestlers.”

He added that accepting Sushil’s request would prompt wrestlers from seven other categories to make a similar demand. “This can open a Pandora’s box as many others can claim the same privilege, which will not be fair.”

The federation now awaits what the court’s decision which will hear Sushil’s plea on Tuesday.