CHENNAI: Finally, double Olympic medallist Sushil Kumar has decided not to participate in the selection trials to be held in New Delhi on Tuesday. The trials were aimed at selecting wrestling teams for the Asian Championships and the Asian leg of the Olympic qualifiers. The 74kg in which Sushil wrestles seems to be a crowded one right now with Narsingh Yadav too entering the fray.
For Sushil, however, it was a difficult choice after losing some time in clearing the mess in the School Games Federation of India. He was elected the president in SGFI last week after sports ministry directed it to hold fresh elections.
"The federation had called me on this too, but I told them I was very busy with clearing the mess in the SGFI," he told The New Indian Express from Delhi. "It was quite disturbing too, especially the forgery issue. I missed out on training for three to four months because of this. And for me I always want to be fit and fully prepared before taking to the mat."
For a while, there have speculations about Sushil's future, but the 37-year-old wrestler said he has kept all options open. "I also told the federation that I have started training and that if there are events like this later, I would definitely participate," he said.
Retirement definitely is not on his mind as of now. He also said he would train for the competition that will be coming up next. "Fit honge to maidan mein utrenge" (I will take the mat when I am fit, is what he believes in).
Olympics too is on his mind. If there's a trial sometime later, even for the Olympics and he is fit, Sushil would love to participate. In short, he is keeping his Olympics options open.
"As of now I want to concentrate on my training," he said. "I always believe that when I represent my country I should be fully fit and play well."
The Olympic qualifier will be held in Almaty, Kazakhstan from April 9 to 11 followed by the Asian Championships from April 13 to 18 at the same venue. Interestingly, it needs to be seen what the Wrestling Federation of India decides if someone managed to secure a berth in the 74kg for the Tokyo Games. The final event (World Olympic qualifier) is scheduled in Sofia, Bulgari from May 6 to 9.
The 74kg is expected to be the most crowded more than 10 wrestlers including Narisngh Yadav, Jitender Kinha, Sandeep Singh and Gourav Baliyan expected to compete. The trials will be held in three Olympic weight categories in freestyle -- 74kg, 97kg and 125kg -- while in the Greco-Roman all weight categories 60kg, 67kg, 77kg, 87kg, 97kg and 130kg) are open for trials.