Sushil Kumar, a Champion Pathbreaker Let Down By India’s Barriers

In the end, it wasn’t a competitor that defeated the great Sushil Kumar. It is his own country.

Sushil Kumar with his 2012 London Olympics silver medal. (Photo: Reuters)

Repechage: A second chance.

A young and relatively unknown Sushil Kumar had just lost his first round bout at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and it seemed like that was it. Game over. But soon, a new technical term began to float about - ‘repechage’. All the wrestlers who had lost to the eventual finalists would get a second chance. A chance to fight for the bronze.

Three tough bouts within a span of 70 minutes and Sushil Kumar had won a bronze at the Beijing Olympics. Only the second in wrestling, ever. The first in over half a century.

Courtesy: A vital second chance. A well deserved second chance. A well fought second chance.

Fast forward to 2016 and what else was Sushil Kumar asking for, but a well deserved second chance? Had it been any other country, it would have been the norm- To chose your best wrestler in a category to represent the flag and fight for Olympic glory.

Instead, the Delhi High Court on Monday shot down Sushil’s appeal, rejecting his plea to be given a chance to fight Narsingh Yadav to be India’s 74kg fighter in Rio. Though Sushil now has the option of going to the Supreme Court with his case, the entire situation is one that could have well been avoided had the Wrestling Federation of India been capable of making decisions - unbiased and on time.

Sushil vs Narsingh: A Fight Born Out of Necessity

As they say in dance class, ‘let’s start from the top’. Dance I say, because what else are India’s wrestlers being made to do but hop, skip and jump around the Federation’s skewed decisions?

Digressions apart, let’s return to the root of the brewing trouble.

It’s September 2015. India has to send a 74 kg representative to the World Championships in Las Vegas. However, a lot has changed since the London Olympics. Sushil’s favored 66 kg category has been done away with for the Rio Olympics and he has had to move into the 74 kg class. A league in which Narsingh Yadav had made a name for himself with an Asian Games and Asian Championships bronze.

So, much like the situation now, a decision had to be made - Sushil or Narsingh?

Back then though Sushil was nursing a shoulder injury and Narsingh made the journey across the Atlantic. Some spiffy moves and the Bronze was his. Along with it, a berth in the Rio Olympics in the 74kg category.

A berth for India.

With Narsingh having made the cut, Sushil was ineligible to compete for a spot in the Olympics thereon.

Narsingh had, after all won a berth for India already. The country would of course organise a fair trial and send it’s best.

And that was what Sushil, and whoever wanted to know, was allowed to believe by the Federation. There was, after all, no word to the contrary. No word even to Sushil when he was sent to Georgia to train with fellow wrestlers.

No word, when he chose to pull out of the Wrestling Federation’s baby, the Pro Wrestling League in December.

But something had changed. Something that finally got the WFI to proclaim that there would be no trials in the 74kg category. Sushil would not be going to Rio, as far as the sport’s parent body in India was concerned.

Suddenly, It was Sushil vs WFI/Narsingh

The face of wrestling in India, the only Indian sportsperson to win back-to-back individual medals at the Olympics, was told he would not be going to Rio.

The Federation had left Sushil Kumar out in the cold.

India would not be sending it’s ‘best’ wrestler, determined by trial; India would instead be sending the wrestler who booked the berth. Left with little choice, Sushil took matters to the High Court and as Justice Manmohan’s Monday verdict stands, he will not be going to the Rio Olympics.

Sushil’s Loss or India’s?

Pronouncing the verdict that may well put a premature end to Sushil’s Olympic dreams, the High Court also said that it was not willing to interfere in the workings of the WFI.

This court is of the view that a writ court will not interfere in the exercise of discretion of National Sports Federation and substitute its own judgment except where the discretion is shown to have been exercised in an arbitrary or capricious or perverse manner or contrary to settled principles or practices.

Justice Manmohan

Arbitrary or capricious or perverse. But then, hasn’t all the workings of the WFI been exactly that in the last year, as far as Sushil is concerned? Here’s a few;

Why Wait Till May

If Sushil really was not to be India’s representative for this Olympics, why did the Federation not inform him and the country as soon as Narsingh qualified?

Why wait till May to declare India’s choice for the Games? It was after all common knowledge that Sushil was continuing his preparations for Rio. Why not have this impending controversy take courtroom-time last year?

Now, as things stand, if a trial is to be commissioned - it would only deeply hamper India’s medal hopes, as the bench pointed out.

In international arena of sports, medals are won not only by ‘brawn’ but also by ‘brain’. The last minute challenge to selection can disturb the mental preparation of the selected.

Justice Manmohan

The training period before a mega-event sees wrestlers gain weight as they work on different parts of their bodies. As things stand, neither Sushil nor Narsingh can immediately jump onto the mat if a trial was to take place.

First they will need to returning to their weight categories and then whoever does win, will have had their preparations disturbed, possibly beyond repair.

Why NOT break the rules?

The WFI’s major point of contention has been that if Sushil is granted a trial against Narsingh it will open the floodgates, all future wrestlers will begin to demand one as well.

But look closely and the above sentence comprises two World Championship medalists. This is not a champion being asked to the mat by a challenger. This is one champion pitted against another.

If ever there was a time to make an exception, this would be it. Instead of revelling in the rare opportunity of having two world-class wrestlers compete for India’s backing - the WFI has instead chosen to hide behind red-tape to prove their point.

Repechage

Much like 2008, all Sushil Kumar thought he deserved was a second chance. A second chance after missing out on the qualifiers due to injury.

Now however, India has reduced its most successful wrestler, a name feared across the world, to a mere spectator this Olympics. There will be no treble from this Champion. There will be no Sushil Kumar in Rio.

In the end, it wasn’t a competitor that defeated the great Sushil Kumar. It was his own country.