Sushil Kumar may be overlooked for the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games
What's the story?
Olympic medallist Sushil Kumar may miss out on participating in the upcoming Commonwealth Games in April later this year. If Delhi Police files a charge sheet against the wrestler for getting involved in a brawl with fellow wrestler Parveen Rana during the trials for the Gold Coast Games, Sushil may be forced to miss the competition.
In case you didn't know...
The incident took place during the build-up to the Commonwealth Games, where Sushil Kumar defeated Parveen 7-3, but things became ugly following the bout and a few staunch supporters of Sushil Kumar thrashed Parveen Rana’s elder brother Naveen.
The heart of the matter
The Wrestling Federation of India indicated such a development might happen following Sushil’s response after he was given a show cause notice by Rana who stated that Sushil was the root cause of the scuffle. The wrestler clearly stated that he had nothing to do with the unfortunate incident. Earlier, Rana had lodged a police complaint against Sushil and his supporters.
According to the reports of The Times of India, Sushil said, "Wrestling is my life and I am always committed to the sport of wrestling. I had no intention to demean wrestling or any of the wrestler and I will never ever do it. I myself didn't want to disrupt the discipline of the federation and I'll always follow it in the future. I want to assure that neither I nor any of my supporters were involved in this whole incident. I condemn the entire episode."
What's next?
Sushil Kumar has claimed that he is innocent but he has to wait until Delhi Police makes a final call on the matter following the investigation.
Author's take
With less than two months left for the all-important Commonwealth Games to start, missing the likes of Sushil Kumar will definitely be a big blow to the Indian contingent as the wrestler is s possible medal contender. It will be a positive sign for the country if he gets a green light ahead of the Gold Coast Games.