High Court crushes Sushil’s Olympic dreams

Double Olympic medal-winning wrestler Sushil Kumar will, in all probability, not get a chance to add a third to his tally at the upcoming Rio Games. On Monday, the Delhi High Court dismissed his petition seeking a selection trial with Narsingh Yadav, the Wrestling Federation of India’s (WFI) choice to represent India in the 74kg freestyle category.

Yadav, 26, had grabbed the Olympic quota place after getting bronze at last year’s World Championship in Las Vegas. Kumar, who got bronze at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and silver at London 2012, approached the court as he felt trials should be held to decide who will represent India at Rio.

The HC, however, disagreed with Kumar. Referring to him as a “legendary” wrestler, Justice Manmohan Singh nevertheless found no reason to “interfere in the jurisdiction of the wrestling federation”, saying the selection process was “transparent”. Pointing to the fact that the Games begin in August, the court said that the chances of a wrestler getting injured during trials are high.

Kumar, 32, has been plagued by injuries in recent years. The last major event he participated in was the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, where he won gold. Owing to his injuries, he couldn’t take part in trials conducted by WFI for last year’s World Championship.

Minutes after the court dismissed Kumar’s petition, the only Indian to win an individual gold medal at the Olympic Games took to social media to express his pithy take on the matter. Abhinav Bindra, one of 12 shooters who will be representing the country in Rio, tweeted: “Sushil Kumar is a legend. He should go to Rio – to support Nar singh from the sidelines . Will only enhance his stature.”