Sushil Kumar - The man who took Indian wrestling to new heights
Wrestler Sushil Kumar Solanki competing in the 74 kg category did the nation proud when he bagged his second Commonwealth Games gold medal in Glasgow at the Scotstoun Sports Campus, when he defeated arch-rival Pakistan’s Qamar Abbas 6-2, in a bout that lasted only 107 seconds. The Haryana lad was leading in the first period and managed to pin down Abbas, leading the referee V Keelan to award the bout in favour of the Indian.
Sushil Kumar’s struggles
The player was introduced to the sport by his cousin Sandeep, who gave up the game to support Sushil, as the family couldn’t afford the expenses. When he was in the second standard, Sushil wrestled away with a boy ten years his senior and that is when his family decided to encourage him to pursue the sport. Within four years of training, Sushil became the state champion in Haryana. His first international medal came at the age of 18, when he won the World Cadet Games in Poland in 1998.
The Asian Junior Wrestling Championship gold in 2000 and a bronze in the senior category of the same event in 2003 followed and he soon became a force to reckon with. He was placed fourth in the World Championships in 2003, but fared badly in the 2004 Olympics where he finished 14th, competing in the 60 kg weight category. After the setback , Sushil determined to put in more hard work, shifted base to Delhi and changed his weight category to 66 kg.
This move seemed to have worked as he clinched 4 consecutive Commonwealth Championships starting from 2003. He won 4 Asian Championships winning bronze in 2003 and 2008, silver in 2007 and the yellow medal in 2010 while coming 7th in the Wrestling World Cup in 2007. However, he was catapulted to fame only in 2008. He qualified for the Beijing Olympics by winning gold in the qualifiers in China. He won a bronze in the Men's 66kg Freestyle Wrestling, where he won three bouts in 70 minutes. He became only the 2nd Indian to win a medal in wrestling, after KD Jadhav's bronze in 1952.
The awards
A year later he was bestowed with India's highest sporting honour, the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award. He also received the Arjuna Award in 2005. He did another first when he became the only Indian to win gold in the 2010 World Wrestling Championship in Moscow, defeating Russian Alan Gogaev 3-1. In the same year, in front of the home crowd he bagged his first CWG gold medal when he beat South African Barnes 7-0 in the finals. The fact that he asked the bout to be stopped in less than four minutes speaks of Sushil’s dominance over his opponent.
He scripted history at the 2012 London Olympics, where he became the only Indian to win two medals after claiming a silver. He was also the flag bearer at the opening ceremony ahead of Vijender Singh and Abhinav Bindra.
Change in weight category
He took a sabbatical after the London Games in order to recover from a shoulder injury, sustained over the years. He had to shift his category to 74 kg last year when the wrestling body FILA did away with the 60 and 66 kg events. Due to prolonged absence, he does not figure in the current rankings having even missed the World Championship this year. He announced his comeback in June by winning the Wrestling Tournament in Italy, competing for the first time in the new weight category.
Plans ahead
In 2013, Olympic Gold Quest (OGQ) identified him as a medal prospect for 2016 Rio Olympics and started funding his training expenditure. He was also drafted as OGQ's special adviser, where his job is to scout talented wrestlers and help train them.
Despite his achievements, Sushil has no plans of stopping and aims to win the gold in the Incheon Asian Games later this year. He also has plans to open an academy in his village in Haryana.
Role Model for many
Sushil was in the news when he refused to advertise a liquor brand which offered him a lucrative sum of Rs. 5 crore saying, "I will not advertise something I do not believe in, just for money," which earned him praises from all sections of society.
His coach M Satpal is hopeful that with the success of Sushil, more wrestlers like Yogeshwar Dutt, Amit Kumar, Satywart Kadian will look to succeed like him, and is confident the youngsters will be inspired to take up the sport and replicate his feat on the international arena.