CHENNAI: The lights were on and there was a din of joyful mirth. Double Olympic medallist Sushil Kumar had finished training and was all smiles. The trainees, a handful of them, in a well-lit underground hall on the Chhatrasal Stadium premises were seen sitting or loitering around. A fresh pair of dumbbells was lying on one side of the mat.
After days of idleness, beginning their training had brought a satisfied smile on their faces. But there was this lingering feeling of discomfort etched on their faces when that question of uncertain future was hurled at them. “When will you compete?” The answer seemed as fleeting as the question. No, I wasn’t there. Those were pictures beamed through a video call all the way from New Delhi. Since visiting his stadium is not possible at the moment, Sushil was at the other end showing how the trainees were faring, more than four weeks since they started training.
“We are practising two times a day now,” said Sushil on Thursday evening. “We have a new coach now. Jaiveer (Dahiya) has joined us and another coach Ashok (Sharma) helps us out. Jaiveer, in fact, is a product of our academy. The boys are shaping up quite well.” Suddenly Sushil pointed towards the dumbbells and said excitedly, “We are in the process of building another gym. Olympic Gold Quest has given funding of around Rs 2 crore and we will establish a state-of-the-art gym.” The hall already has a gym and Sushil, who competes in 74kg weight category, said this would be better equipped.
“But our sparring is still going on with dummies,” said Sushil, emphasising the need for maintaining social distancing and hygiene in a camp where around 15-20 elite wrestlers are training. “We are working on our strength and endurance.” Sushil brought Ravi Dahiya to join the conversation. The youngster, giggling all the time, explained how he is enjoying his training.
“Really excited to be back in practice,” he said. “Our training is quite intense and in a couple of weeks, we should be back to full fitness. We are practising with dummies right now.” Training with dummies is fine but Sushil, who also helps the young wrestlers, is waiting for government orders to allow them to start sparring.
Dahiya’s father stops milk supply
Rakesh Dahiya, father of wrestlers Ravi and Pankaj and a small-time farmer from Nahri village in Haryana’s Sonepat, has stopped delivering milk, curd and butter to his sons due to the pandemic. He has been travelling to the venue, which is around 35 km from his village, for the past 13 years to deliver the milk products to ensure his sons are not devoid of their daily diet.
“When the lockdown was imposed, I used to travel to the venue every day from my village. With more restrictions in place and rising number of cases in Delhi, I decided to stay back in Chhatrasal Stadium. I also requested my father not to worry about our diet as we will manage with dairy products and fruits we get here at the stadium,” said Ravi, who has qualified for the Tokyo Olympics by virtue of his 57kg bronze in World Championships last year. - Firoz Mirza