Email
Print
ShareNew Delhi: Sushil Kumar remains India's biggest name among contemporary wrestlers, and though he needs to substantiate his Olympic Games bronze medal with some other big wins to be counted among the best in the business, the wrestling fraternity does not seem too concerned about his latest loss.
His fifth place finish in the 66 kg category at the World Championships in Herning, Denmark on Tuesday was not up to expectations. Sushil lost 2-8 to world No.2 Rasul Djukaev of Russia and was then blanked 0-5 by world No.3 Tatsuhiro Yonemitsu of Japan to go out of the medals bracket.
Charan Das, a former national champion who coached Sushil in his early years, feels one should not be disappointed with the loss.
"He is one of the better wrestlers at the world level. Others have been watching his bouts over the past few years and I am sure they would have worked out his style," said Das. "To win on a consistent basis at the top level is not an easy task and though Sushil is an intelligent wrestler, others are bound to out-think him at times," added Das, who coached Sushil before the wrestler was taken under the wings by former Asian Games gold medallist Sat Pal.
Prem Nath, a Commonwealth Games gold medallist who finished 4th at the 1972 Olympics, feels Sushil is a world class wrestler. "I would still say his performance in the Olympic Games has revived wrestling in the country and we can expect some good results from him and other wrestlers in the coming years, especially in the Commonwealth Games," Prem Nath he said.
Though his performance was better than his quarterfinal finish in the 2007 edition, the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) officials were expecting a medal from him. "Going into the championships, we were expecting at least a bronze," said a WFI official.
In fact, this year has not been a good one for Sushil in spite of his winning a gold at the German Grand Prix in June. A little before that, he was reprimanded by the WFI as well as the sports ministry after a 'no show' in two successive competitions.
In February, Sushil refused to participate in the Dave Schultz competition in Colorado citing an injury at the last moment. Then in May, he was overweight and had to miss the Asian Championships in Pattaya.
