SUSHIL KUMAR SETTLES FOR SILVER BUT CREATES HISTORY

SUSHIL KUMAR SETTLES FOR SILVER BUT CREATES HISTORY

India will not have a gold medal to show from the London Olympic Games as wrestler Sushil Kumar settled for a silver in the 66kg free style category after being outclassed by Japanese Tatsuhiro Yonemitsu 3-1 in the gold medal bout, here Sunday12th August, 2012. Nevertheless, the Indian wrestler recorded his name in sports history annals of the country by becoming the first ever sportsperson to win back-to-back individual Olympic medals, having won a bronze at the 2008 Beijing Games. It was India's third wrestling medal in Olympic history with K.D Jadhav (1952) and Yogeshwar Dutt (2012) being the previous winners. 

With Sushil's silver, India ended its London Games campaign with six medals - its best ever show at the biggest sports extravaganza. Wrestling and shooting provided India two medals each, while women boxing and badminton added one medal each. India had hoped to add a gold to its kitty when Sushil Kumar reached the final but his Japanese rival, an Asian Games champion, prevailed with his stout defence. Raj Singh, the Secretary General of the Wrestling federation of India said after the final that Sushil had a bout of diarrhea after his semifinal bout and also vomited as something he had eaten did not agree with him. He also had a neck injury which he suffered during the semifinal against Kazakhstan's Akzhurek Tanatarov but that did not affect him, according to Raj.

Prof. John Kurakar