Sushil Kumar, the only sportsman after Norman Prichard in a span of last 115 years to have achieved two consecutive individual medals from two Olympics in Bejing and London, is ready to face booming Indian wrestler Narsing Yadav in his first ever trial match to earn the qualification for the Rio Olympics. The ace grappler has already created some controversy by pulling out of the Pro-Wrestling league in the last moment before the tournament kicked off last week. A section of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI), as well as a few owners in the Pro-league, have made a mockery of Sushil, having reportedly commented that to avoid Narsing Yadav in the Pro-league, Sushil pulled out of the tournament in the last moment.
The grappler who has returned from Georgia from 20-day exposure training said on Monday over the phone, “First of all let you know that the allegations which I have been listening after returning to the country that to avoid Narsing I have pulled out of the Pro-league is completely fake. If it is true then I would not have informed WFI people that I am ready to face Narsing in the trial match for Rio qualification.”
Sushil Kumar who has been now going through intensive training programme in his akhara in New Delhi, added, “I have been watching video clippings of my all the opponents’ recent fight including Narsing as he has been in tremendous form since the World Championship in October where he had already earned qualification for Rio Olympics by winning bronze medal.” The bronze and silver medalist in back-to-back Olympics in Bejing and London Sushil has also made plans to go for another exposure trip to USA to strengthen his preparation. He looked confident of earning qualification for the Rio beating Narsing in the trial match, likely to be held after the ongoing Pro-league wrestling gets over.
Unfortunately, according to International Olympic Committee rule, there will be only one participant in each weight category from each country. So, there will only one between Sushil and Narsing in the Rio Olympics to compete in the 74 weight category fight.