Ramesh who? — that was the obvious refrain. One of the youngest Arjuna Award recipients, Ramesh Kumar, was treading obscurity until he shook the wrestling fraternity on September 24 when he proudly bowed his head to receive the world championship bronze in Herning, Denmark.
It was his moment of deliverance, one that seemed to elude him perennially after his fairytale surge nearly a decade ago. Ramesh was a cadet and junior world champion and won medals both in the Asian Championship and German Grand Prix. In 2002, he was conferred the Arjuna Award when he was 20, one of its youngest recipients. A year later, he snared gold (66kg) in the Commonwealth Games. But just when his stature seemed to soar, a ligament knee injury, sustained in the Commonwealth Games’ final, impeded his career. But he recuperated well enough to bag gold in the Commonwealth Boxing Championship in 2005, but persistent knee injury tied him down again. Henceforth, he seemed a nearly man, and then a fringe man. He rekindled some form prior to the Beijing Olympics, but failed to achieve the qualification mark. His career seemed as good as over. But for the momentous evening in Denmark, he would have been only a footnote in India’s wrestling annals.
The 27-year-old was hardly in the fray for a medal, prior to the World Championships. Hopes were naturally pinned on Olympic bronze-medallist Sushil Kumar, who was expected to replicate the Beijing show. But sport as such is inherently uncertain, or it is this element that makes sport such a glowing spectacle. Maybe, the lack of media glare eased the pressure on Ramesh, and he had nothing to lose. Constant training had kept him in shape and the extra determination helped him focus single-mindedly on his game. Unlike Sushil, he was not distracted and was hardly under any pressure to perform.
Ramesh’s coach Rohtas Singh Dahiya, who was also his mentor at the renowned wrestling academy, Captain Chand Roop aghada in Delhi as well in the Railways, attested to his exemplary work ethics. “Right from the moment I saw him at the school nationals in 1997, I knew he was prodigiously talented. But he was flashy at times and used to concede easy points. Technically, he was sound but at times he used to get himself into a dilemma (over whether) to attack or play a defensive game. Once he sorted this out, he naturally evolved into tough player to beat. And he worked hard on his game, spent hours in the aghada (academy) fine-tuning his technique. He sounded confident and composed before going to the championship, and I knew that if he was confident he was always a worthy contender,” says Dahiya.
It was not just hard work that ushered in luck. Ramesh believes his marriage in last December brought about a turnaround in fortunes. He has every reason to believe so as he has snared medals in all but one tournament since his wedding. He reckons his wife Sonu as his lucky mascot and the motivational factor.
However, his start in Denmark was not particularly indicative of a beckoning medal. The 74-kg freestyle wrestler struggled past the USA’s Dustin Schattler 3-2 before bettering against Britain’s Michael Grundy (4-2). The quarterfinal contest against Kiril Terziev was excruciating, but he held on 7-4. But Azerbaijan’s Chamsulvara Chamsulvatrayev halted his progress in the semifinal, hammering him 5-0. The chances of a medal seemed bleak as he was down 3-0 against Alexandr Burca of Moldova. But the wrestler from Sonepat in UP, raised in a farming family, riposted remarkably to tie 7-7.
And by virtue of technical points, Ramesh earned bronze in the World Championships, the second wrestler from India to win a World Championship medal after Vishambar Singh’s silver-medal in 1967. The unpretentious wrestler will doubtless raise wrestling’s profile in India, and alongside Sushil Kumar, will boost India’s chances in the 2010 Commonwealth Games. Seconds Dahiya, an Arjuna awardee himself, “One champion after the other, and a world championship bronze after an Olympic bronze, things are certainly looking brighter for Indian wrestling. Every sport requires heroes and idols, and fortunately, wrestling has a couple of them. Both of them are medal contenders, not only for the 2010 Commonwealth Games but also for the 2012 London Olympics.” On a slightly different note, here beckons Ramesh’s real challenge — to keep his head and sustain his form.
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