Narsingh Yadav’s story is a classic case of one man’s loss becoming another one’s gain.
After 74kg category wrestler Sumit failed dope test recently, the Jogeswari lad has replaced him in the squad for the Commonwealth Games.
The 22-year-old wrestler, who won the gold in Commonwealth Championship in 2009 and Asian Championship earlier this year, was always a contender, but lost one crucial match during the CWG trials to miss the spot initially. The grappler is now on his way to Moscow for the World Championships starting from September 9th.
Narsingh has been training at Sports Authority of India (SAI) centre in Kandivli since 2001 with his coach Jagmal Singh. “He has been a consistent performer and deserved the berth in the first place,” coach said.
Wrestling came to the talented youngster easily since his elder brother Vinod was a wrestler too. Rarely do we hear of a city lad making it big in any sport other than cricket or football. “His family actually pushed him to the sport, not many in this city would want their children to pursue wrestling,” Singh said.
With the berth all but sealed, Narsingh would hope to repeat his Asian Championships feat at the same venue during the CWG. “He beat last year’s World Championship bronze medal winner Ramesh Kumar during the trials, which amply proves that he has the talent to make it big,” Singh explained. A pure vegetarian, the grappler gathers his strength from milk laced with loads of almond.
Narsingh is currently employed by Western Railways as senior ticket checker and is sponsored by Mittal Champions Trust and the Sahara Pariwar. Singh is hopeful that a medal at CWG would earn the youngster a promotion, though it was promised to him after his Asian win.
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