Wrestling’s Rags to Riches: From DTC bus driver’s son to India’s most beloved wrestler; Sushil Kumar’s journey of struggles and triumphs

By   - 09/06/2020

A decade ago, if you had travelled to rural India to enjoy mud wrestling indigenously known as dangals, you would find large hoarding of Sushil Kumar. Such was and still is the stature of the twin Olympic medallist. Kumar is the equivalent of what Sachin Tendulkar is in Indian cricket. It is he who brought a paradigm shift for Indian wrestling and took it to new heights.

Today, any wrestler who takes up the sport dreams of emulating the ‘Great Sushil Pahelwanji’. But behind every successful man, there are a lot of sacrifices and struggles. And Kumar is no alien to such experiences.

Chapter 1: Son of driver and introduction to wrestling

Born in the village of Baprola, on the outskirts of India’s capital city Delhi, Kumar came from a poor family. His father was a driver in MTNL and did part-time wrestling. His uncle too was an amateur wrestler and both encouraged the young Kumar to take up the sport.

Coming from a wrestling lineage, it was natural for him to get interested. But poor family conditions meant he could not afford the expenses. This is where Kumar’s cousin Sandeep who was also an avid wrestler decided to sacrifice his career in order to support Kumar’s dream.

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Kumar had said,” My journey of wrestling started at an early age of 14 years. Wrestling for me kick-started as a hobby, but with time I witnessed it developing into a passion. I was quite fortunate enough to have my family by my side which in turn, inspired me to work harder and go on to win laurels”.

Kumar’s first bout was when he in the second standard and he had to wrestle a boy ten years his senior. And that was the turning point of Kumar’s life.

Chapter 2: Rollercoaster ride

Kumar began training under veteran Indian coach Yashvir Singh, and within four years of he became the state champion in Haryana. At the age of 18, he won the World Cadet Games in Poland in 1998.

With it, the wrestler began his foray into the wrestling world and soon started getting global success. At the Asian Junior Wrestling Championship, he won gold in 2000 and a bronze in the senior category of the same event three years later.

Kumar came close to becoming the first world medallist in 2003 but lost in the semi-finals and was placed fourth. The dip in form continued at the 2004 Athens Olympics where he finished 14th, competing in the 60kg weight class. A year later at 2005 Asian Championship, Kumar finished eighth.

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After the setback, he was sure to put all the critics to rest and shifted base to Delhi and changed his weight category to 66kg. The move proved beneficial for him as he clinched four consecutive Commonwealth Championships starting from 2003. He won 4 Asian Championships winning bronze in 2003 and 2008, silver in 2007 and the yellow medal in 2010 while coming 7th in the Wrestling World Cup in 2007.

However, it was the 2008 Beijing Olympics that catapulted him to fame.

Chapter 3: Rise to fame and the history maker

After qualifying for the 2008 Beijing Games, the new and more determined Kumar was one of the favourites to climb the podium. And he did prove all his critics wrong after winning a bronze medal in Men’s 66kg freestyle. With it, he also ended India’s 56-year long wait for an Olympic medal. The last was by KD Jadhav in 1952 which is also the first Olympic medal for Independent India.

Two years later he created history and became the first Indian to win gold at the World Championships after defeating Russia’s Alan Gogaev 3-1. In the same year, in front of the home crowd, he bagged his first CWG gold medal when he beat South African Barnes 7-0 in the finals. The fact that he asked the bout to be stopped in less than four minutes speaks of Sushil’s dominance over his opponent.

The rise continued as in 2012 London games he bettered his Beijing’s performance and finished second and became the first Indian to win two Olympics medals.

For his performance in 2008, he was bestowed with India’s highest sporting honour, the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award.

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Chapter 4: Moving up in weight class and struggling times return

After the London Games, he took a sabbatical from wrestling in order to recover from a shoulder injury. He had to move up to 74kg when the wrestling body FILA — now United World Wrestling (UWW) – did away with the 60 and 66kg events.

He made the return two years later in 2014 for the Commonwealth Games where he won gold in his new weight class. But with a new challenger Narsingh Yadav, Kumar had struggled to cement his position in the team and missed out on the 2016 Rio Games. Since then he has had an on and off appearance in the blue singlet.

Plans ahead

After a poor performance at the 2019 World Championships and again missing out on national trials due to injury, Kumar has finally announced that he is fit and is eyeing a return.

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He said that he will be competing for the 74kg berth which is currently held by Jitender. If he manages to return it would be his last hurrah before hanging his boots for good. But for now, the legendary wrestler is training hard in his home and spending time with family.

Wrestling (Kushti) fans can catch Live Streaming, Highlights, News, Videos, Photos, Results and Rankings on WrestlingTV

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