The plight of ace wrestler Sushil Kumar begging for a place for the Rio Olympics brought tears to my eyes and made every sports lover in the country sad. Olympics is all about top fitness, excellence as well as form and twice Olympic medalist Sushil Kumar has of late been suffering from shoulder injury which has kept him out of competitive wrestling for quite a while now. His desperation for an Olympic berth on his past laurels cannot be entertained and he has made a fool out of himself by even demanding a trial bout for his selection, more so when Narsingh Yadav has already qualified for the games in his category.
Sushil Kumar is one of the best wrestlers our country has ever produced and two Olympic medals from him for the country in the past years truly was a remarkable achievement for which the entire nation is proud of him. But a sportsman however great he may be can’t excel forever and Sushil should accept the fact that his best days are behind him. The ace wrestler should move on in life and perhaps open a wrestling academy where he can pass on some of his skills to budding talent who may bring laurels for the nation in the coming years. However, I request Indian Olympic Association to add Sushil Kumar’s name to the list of brand ambassadors as that would be a fitting tribute, more so if you have a Salman Khan in that list who is nowhere associated with the sport. Sushil Kumar’s expertise can be also be used in coaching our wrestlers as he has vast experience at the games and let us hope he is part of the contingent but not as a participant!
S.N. Kabra
(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)
